Morgan celebrated 110 years, with the launch of a brand-new anniversary model at the recent 2019 Geneva Motor Show. The company continues as a family-owned firm that commenced trading in the capable hands of Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, albeit funded today by a Luxembourg investment firm, InvestIndustrial, which also owns a major stake in Aston Martin, another British marque. Its early models were mostly three-wheelers, a format to which the company would return several years later, after producing its first four-wheeled sportscar in 1936.
Morgan’s manufacturing traditions have always been the bedrock of the company. Using ash wood as a core ingredient of a manufacturing process that is almost as old as the firm’s base in the Malvern Hills, on a steel (now alloy) reinforced chassis, clad in aluminium panels and trimmed in high-grade leather and wood, Morgan appears to be completely out-of-step with modern, unitary construction techniques. However, nobody can deny a full order book that means potential buyers have to wait upwards of two years for their acquisitions to be collected. With world-wide recognition, over 50 owners’ clubs and no dip in sales on the horizon, Morgan has the luxury of arrogance on its side and its 191 employees are fully occupied.
Coventry University graduate, Matthew Humphries, created a streamlined profile for the Aeromax model in 2005, which entered an initially limited production run of 100 cars. More recently, displaying a superb blend of alloy substructure and ash-frame upper structure, known as ‘Cx’, an all-new Plus6 model also celebrates a next stage in Morgan’s subtle modernisation programme.
Powered by BMW’s bi-turbo, six-cylinder, 335bhp petrol engine, the Plus6 blitzes the 0-60mph benchmark in 3.9s, promising a top speed of 166mph and, thanks to a low kerbweight of just 1,075kgs, emits a mere 170g/km CO2 from its exhaust pipes, while returning an astonishing posted 38.2mpg, which makes it Morgan’s most frugal production model, apart from its EV developments. As mentioned earlier, the company returned to producing a Three-Wheeler model in 2012, powered by an S&S vee-twin engine displacing 2.0-litres and developing an unstressed 115bhp. An EV alternative has also been produced on its chassis.
While Jill Price, Peter Morgan’s daughter, retains a visible but minority family stake in the carmaker, Morgan currently turns over £33.8m and posted a £3.2m net profit in 2018, also stating that the past two years had been its busiest and most successful ever. The takeover has zero financial debt and Morgan continues to trade in the black, selling around 700 cars annually. More interestingly, every company employee has a stake in the business. Even more importantly, the InvestIndustrial funding will lead to even greater advances for Morgan in new products.
