In an astonishing mix of modern technology with traditional rural crafts, English specialist sports car company Morgan has just unveiled its fastest-ever model.
The Supersport 400 is a very rapid car, with 0-62 mph (100km/h) in probably less than 3.6 secs, but it will emerge as a hand-built part-wooden roadster with a design that is based in the 1930s from a quaint rural factory that has stood in England’s pretty Malvern hills for 112 years.
Morgan Motor Company
Morgan is a demonstration of how a high-performance sports-car company can survive with a more organic, heritage-based approach to the auto industry. It famously still uses hand-crafted ash from English forests to make structural parts of its cars.
Yet it’s still going strong in an automotive world of robot factories and zippy production lines – and its creations are getting faster. The new 402-hp flagship is the first production Morgan to exceed 400 bhp, its most powerful and rapid car ever. It is essentially an upgrade to the standard Supersport that we reported on last year, which we dubbed ‘a turbocharged retro alternative to the Porsche 911.’
Up in those leafy Worcestershire hills, Morgan’s tuners have been busy since then. They’ve tweaked the BMW turbocharged six-cylinder engine (also found in the Toyota Supra and BMW Z4) to add 67 bhp and pushed top speed from 166 mph to 180 mph (~290 km/h).
Morgan Motor Company
Even though Top Gear is accusing the new car of looking like a ‘wing back chair,’ the body has been improved aerodynamically and handling has been sharpened. It’s a classic example of extracting performance by controlling power and weight. The 400 weighs about the same as a Mazda MX-5/Miata at 2,579.4 lb (1,170 kg) – but has four times the power.
The Supersport 400 is a classic British roadster, a two-seater with a mohair manually folding soft top and lightweight carbon-fiber hard top that fits with simple catches. Alongside the retro features though, it has state-of-the art tech like ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox, high-performance hand-built Nitron racing dampers, drive-by-wire throttle and computerized Electronic Stability Control. The long hood with protruding headlamps may recall 1930s design trends but there’s sophisticated electronic architecture hidden underneath. It’s that contrast between old and new that fascinates us. It means Morgan stands out from all the other specialist supercar makers.
The chassis is high-tech bonded aluminum – but the upper structure is crafted using saws and chisels. They’ve been built like that since 1909, the year after Ford started building Model T Fords on a production line in Michigan.
Morgan Motor Company
Morgan craftsmen will fit a high-end Sennheiser sound system and a BMW digital ECU alongside a carved piece of timber. The entire ash frame is dipped in preservative to prevent rot, ensuring the wood can last for 50 years. It takes 30 hours to trim four hides of the finest Scottish leather for a Morgan interior. In the factory, craftsmen beat aluminum panels over wooden forms by hand alongside 3D-printed components and laser-cut chassis parts. There is no assembly line with robots; the cars are pushed from one station to the next by hand.
For Morgan it’s all about branding. The company couldn’t sell a carbon-fiber supercar competing against Ferrari or McLaren. But its retro styling and processes offer a unique time-machine driving experience. It’s not even as barmy as the latest electric vehicles that offer fake rev counters and simulated gear changes. We all seem to crave a bit of driving nostalgia.
Morgan Motor Company
Besides, Morgan claims that far from being an outdated gimmick, the ash frame is a sensible engineering choice that blends sustainability with performance. Even at 180 mph, ash offers specific physical properties that modern materials can’t match. Unlike metal, wood has natural ‘viscoelastic’ properties to absorb vibration. It is lightweight yet incredibly strong. It’s flexible enough to be bent into the curves of a wheelarch but rigid enough to support the entire body.
The Supersport name first appeared on a performance-tuned version of Morgan three-wheeler in 1927. Production of the Supersport 400 starts next month, and UK prices start at £112,965 (which converts to around US$153k).
Source: Morgan Motor Company
