Morgan: “we will double down on coachbuilding”

“It’s probably worth saying that the core of coachbuilding is something that we cherish,” Morgan boss Matthew Hole told TopGear.com. “The craftsmanship that goes into a Morgan is unique, and we intend to keep that.

“We will double down on coachbuilding,” he added. In an age of automation, it’s perhaps heartening to hear one of the world’s oldest badges… still doing it the old way.

Of course, it’s not old to Morgan. “We don’t love the word ‘retro’ around Morgan,” design boss Jonathan Wells told TG. “For us, it’s not a reflection of the past, the fact we’re coachbuilding like we are – we’ve always done it like this.

“You can’t replicate something that’s never ceased to exist. For us, there’s consistency there rather than a historic replica of anything,” he added.

So where the straight-six powered Supersport – the company’s new flagship, replacing the old Plus Six – might look shiny and new, it’s unmistakably a Morgan, built in Morgan’s unmistakable way. “The Supersport has more wood in it than the car it replaces,” Hole said, “more hand metalwork in it. And it is intrinsically hand-built. Hand-built rather than hand-assembled.

“Nobody’s handcrafting cars at this sort of volume,” he added. Speaking of numbers, Morgan isn’t expecting the Supersport to suddenly make it a mass-market player. “Like all manufacturers over the last 18-24 months, we’ve definitely seen a dip,” Hole conceded.

“We were doing 650-700 cars a year, and then it dipped to around 500. We’re aiming for 650 this year, with a plan to climb back up to 800 cars a year. We’ve weathered the storm really well, I’d say. We’ve got a really strong order book at the moment, and the business is heading in the right direction.”

He noted how Morgan’s ‘exclusivity’ is what helps maintain a steady flow of customers. “That will be part of our identity going forward,” Hole said. “We don’t have aspirations of building 5,000 cars a year. 800 or so is our sweet spot.

“We’ve got the ability to do specials every now and again, so we can have a bit of fun [with the Supersport’s new base] as well, and we’ll continue to do that because we’ve put a lot of work into it,” he added.

Though while Morgan might do specials like the gorgeous Midsummar concept we saw last year, Wells noted it’s ingrained right in the company’s DNA.

“A lot of companies have bolt-on special vehicle operations – Morgan is just special vehicle operations,” he said.