The world has moved on, not saying I like it more than the 'old days' but its different.
Lotus started off making kit cars to finance their racing arm, they were basic and only appealed to hands on enthusiasts. Ferrari started off in much the same way, building road cars to help finance racing. Morgan have traditionally built cars that needed sorting by enthusiastic owners as they came from the factory because they were built to a price, and there are many examples you could find of 'characterful' car manufacturers who no longer exist.
As the capability of mass produced cars improved the number of potential buyers who were prepared to put the effort in to run these types of vehicles diminished, and to survive you either have the niche small volume players, like Pembleton, or if you have higher volumes, like Morgan and Lotus you have to go up market because the profit on a £100,000 plus car is considerably more than on one at half the price and the development costs of trying to get anywhere near the capability of a ferrari/porsche etc are huge.
Ferrari seem to be doing ok and Morgan may well thrive, lets hope so. Ducati is the closest comparison to Morgan in taking a fantastic bike, full of character but not exactly the most reliable or well built, and turning it into one of most capable and expensive bikes available. Morgan are I am sure looking to do the same but it won't happen overnight, as it didn't with Ducati.
I am happy with my Morgan, and previous ones, but spend far more time making sure they keep going than on any of the mass produced cars I have owned and most people just don' 'get it'
I do think that the traditional enthusiasts cars will always have a place, partly as an antidote to the mass market vehicles currently being produced, but unfortunately feel that most have already been built and we are unlikely to see their like again.
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