Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms MMC offering any paint and trim combo at no cost

Still hopeful we will have the Plus Four here in the USA early next year - it’s been a struggle but I do think it’s going to happen.

Have you heard otherwise?

I love my Aero but I do wonder where it is going to end up - the lost child.

The new owners need to work it out quickly, as you highlight the impending UK legislation with no options for small volume etc means the door is closing fast.

If I were to be a tiny bit cynical I would say the introduction of the offer is intended to drive people to buy new and spec their own car, thus keeping them from buying the secondhand stock that is readily available in the market. From a manufacturer point of view the factory needs to be busy, if the secondhand stock is sucking up the sales and the dealers will probably take a bare minimum of demo cars then there is an issue with new volume. It's a sensible thing from the factory point of view

IIRC, Fiesta or Ka with some mods, SiFab used to offer a replacement but even he's stopped making Aero bits which is worrying for future parts supply

Some further thoughts on this.

Back in the day - but not that long ago - your average buyer could afford to dip their toe in the water with a Trad 4/4, safe in the knowledge that depreciation would be significantly lower than other open top sports cars. The risk of not falling head over heels in love with the Mog was relatively low and many buyers would subsequently move on to a Plus 4, Roadster or what have you. Good business strategy and one that had worked for generations.

Turn the page and in excluding the Trads in favour of the CX models, MMC have now excluded your average buyer. Basis for this is that anyone with £80k+ to spend is very definitely not average. There are far fewer potential buyers with pockets that deep.

OK - to counter this, MMC must have abundant CX USPs up their sleeve? Like major recalls, reliability issues and well publicised Plus 6 write offs?

Granted, the CX are very powerful and eye catching cars. Why therefore are there so many second hand CX cars now available? Perish the thought, but could customer dissatisfaction be a factor?

I know a new Plus Four buyer who, following a very minor shunt, has been off the road since early March awaiting parts. Basic after sales provision?

Never mind, we’ll throw in a free paint job and the cracks will soon be painted over. It’ll be allright.

I hear and agree with a good deal of this but for balance

The last 12 months has seen a pretty big downturn in the economy so pockets are not so deep right now, stock would build.
The cost of many cars (ignoring the BEV block cost uplift on top) has gone up significantly in the last 24 months.
The cheapest (no battery) car has gone from £12k to £15k+.

I do think the price bump around the move to CX and also what they have gone up by in the last two years + options is a lot more than this though.
It has taken them into a more critical market segment.
It has to appeal to a different client than the classic.

A bigger concern is how the investment will look in 12 months time if they are not profitable.
The UK BEV enforcement, cost of redevelopment, loss of exemption for small vendors is a hard stop for a lot of things.

It looking like a case of wrong product at the wrong time + arrogance + bad luck.

Kill off what has been the core of your business for decades.
Introduce a very expensive replacement.
Combine poor QC, poor build quality, expensive recall (financially and reputationally).
World financial crash.

Crowdfunding...........'The Morgan'. A trad, new trad, a continuation......but better.......!
There are enough enthusiast and owners, loads of very astute business brains, lots of experience in manufacturing, all the contacts that are needed, lots of wealthy folk.
A few thousand pounds investment per share holder.......🤷🏻‍♂️

Interestingly, this offer whilst at the height of Morgan ownership use, ie the summer months is also when the factory will be experiencing lower staffing levels due to summer holidays and therefore resultant lower output capacity. I would have expected such an offer in the winter months to promote sales in the one would normally consider a quieter trading period for open topped cars, one shouldn't read too much into it, but conventional wisdom would suggest with short delivery times these days and the expected increased summer demand that prices would be maintained to maximise profits, not reduced at what should be a very busy time.......everyone wants a open top car in the summer!

I would also be pretty pissed off if having ordered a new Morgan before this offer came into effect and unless backdated to current undelivered orders I could finish up paying £5k more. It may have been better to introduce a fully spec'd limited edition, rather than time limited special offer, so not to piss others off who have just ordered before this offer came about. There is a recession in some areas of the economy. those that can afford a CX Morgan are probably pretty well set up and can afford such a car. I would suggest the market for the 4/4's type of buyer is being squeezed harder than the Plus 6 market buyers.
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It is amusing that Fiat and Morgan have essentially the same marketing spin, banish boring colours.
Fiat, I understand, is making all its bright colours "standard" and charging a premium for silver, grey and black. EXCELLENT!!

But in the UK these colours are the most popular, so are they cynically increasing revenue or will they drive away customers?

If anybody is thinking of taking up the offer of any colour, I can recommend going with a bright non-metallic Bugatti or French racing blue with magnolia leather and black hood and trims

It wouldn’t have been my choice at all on a Morgan and wasn’t initially keen but I get so many genuine comments from Morgan owners and non Morgan owners saying that they think it’s the best looking colour they’ve ever seen a Mog. In fact one owner came up to me and said the other week that they couldn’t stop looking at it

I used to have a bright Corsa red Morgan and I never had quite the same reaction

I’m not sure why it gets so many admirers and comments but it does contrast nicely with black and the polished stainless and chrome bits

The colour on mine came from the chairman of Bristol Rovers, the late Geoff Dunford, having it colour matched to the blue on the Rovers shirt in 2007 but it’s what I would call a Bugatti blue

I have to agree with you Stewart, I’ve always admired the colour combo of your car 👍