New Supersport Is Morgan’s First Daily Driver

It seems appropriate that a cobbled mews in London, which hasn’t visibly changed much for centuries, is the setting for the revealing of a new Morgan—the British brand which has stayed most true to its own origins.

Even with a new architecture, new design, new features, and a new name, there can be no mistaking this Morgan for anything else.

It’s called the Supersport, and replaces the Plus Six as the Malvern motor company’s flagship. Your first question will be, is it coming to America?, and the answer, according to Managing Director Matthew Hole is “Never say never.”

“The American market is incredibly important to us, and we wouldn’t want to deprive them of something. So we’re always looking at it, but today, the focus is really on Plus Four,” he says.

Sold under the Low-Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, Morgan can only import 325 vehicles a year into the U.S., and there are seemingly more than enough customers for several years already.

But, if you believe Hole, then hope is not completely lost, and the Supersport could one day be driven across the U.S.

In fact, it’s almost as if the Supersport has been created for that very purpose, as it’s set to be the most usable Morgan ever, and just perfect for a cross-continental road trip.

“This car is designed to be used all year round,” explains Hole. “Really, it’s designed to take away any excuse that a Morgan owner might have for not using their car. If you’ve got something like this in your garage, you should be using it.”

One of the biggest barriers to long-distance Morgan motoring has always been a lack of luggage space. Sure, you could squeeze a couple of soft bags behind the seats, but anything more substantial would have to be strapped to an optional luggage rack and left open to the elements.

That changes with the Supersport, as it has that most modern of features: a trunk. Push a button on the key fob and the rear lid opens wide enough to swallow a couple more cases, and there’s even a slot for the removable side-screens.

Those screens were also a bit of a bug bear before. Getting them to fit snugly would often require several attempts, tightening and untightening the somewhat fiddly fixings. Now they’ve been completely redesigned with vertical supports that slot into the door frames, clicking into position perfectly to align with the windscreen and make a solid seal.

The soft top mechanism is much the same as before and easy enough (if not quite Miata simple) to operate, but now there’s an optional carbon fiber hard top to truly keep all weather at bay.

Buyers will need to choose one or the other, but either can then be ordered and fitted separately (though the soft top does need to be completely removed before installing the carbon roof).

The hard top helps put the sport in Supersport, not just because it adds a certain raciness to the styling, but because it also serves to add extra torsional stiffness to the chassis.

Before taking on the role of Managing Director, Hole led the development of the Supersport project from the engineering side and is confident that it will be the most driver-focused Morgan ever. Having originally planned to build it on the same platform as the outgoing Plus Six, there was “a monumental amount of scope creep,” he says.

“Architecturally, it is a bonded aluminum structure like used before. However, we have re-engineered the chassis so much so that we have re-crashed the car for safety tests. In conjunction with changing all the suspension hard points, changing the uprights, changing the wheels and changing the tires, we’ve changed the steering geometry. We’ve got a bit more Ackermann [the effect of the inner wheel having greater steering angle than the outer], we’ve moved the steering rack—in fact, it’s a new steering rack. Now we’ve got a new steering column to improve steering feel. The new Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires also help, but we’ve done things like taking two U-joints out of the steering column and removed a bearing in the steering column, which basically takes some friction and loss motion away, so you get much more direct steering feel.”

“We’ve fundamentally changed the structure of the chassis and increased the torsional stiffness of the car by 10% and we’ve got carbon hard top fit to this car which adds another 10% to the global stiffness.  If you take the lower wishbone mounts, their local stiffness is 100% increased over the outgoing car. We changed how the seat mounts in the chassis, how the transmission mounts in the chassis. It’s been really a fundamental re-engineering of the platform.”

What hasn’t changed is the BMW-sourced powertrain. Under the hood is the tried-and-tested B58 TwinPower inline six that produces 340 hp and drives the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. With the Supersport weighing in at 2580 pounds, that should be plenty of power, while an optional mechanical limited-slip differential is there to aid traction.

Credit chief designer Jonathan Wells and his team with maintaining Morgan’s tradition while adding a host of subtle, functional updates throughout the design. Aerodynamics plays a key role, with the elongated tail and rear diffuser especially aiding airflow and downforce.

“We still have a running board, but it doesn’t drop off so quickly and dip down like a roller coaster,” says Wells. “It’s got a lot more volume behind those front wheels, which really helps control the airflow over the body. When the air hits the rear arch, it’s no longer perpendicular. It’s ticked back, and you can see these muscular shoulders in the vehicle now that show there’s a sense of power. Wheels are still 18 and 19 inches, but a lot more tire wall fills the arches. We haven’t gone for sort of elastic bands—more a dynamic contemporary look.”

At the front, you’ll find the biggest headlamps Morgan has ever fitted, along with a revised grille and a deep spoiler. The long-standing hood louvers have gone, replaced by less obvious but far more effective cooling channels, but this new approach isn’t at the expense of tradition. There’s still an ash wood frame to support the bodywork, and it’s even been left exposed to see when you open the trunk.

“It’s important that people know we’ve got guys in the tin shop hammering bits and metal and guys in the wood shop planing away the wooden frames. That’s how we build cars. That’s essential to our business,” says Hole.

There’s more wood in the cabin, but it’s largely a carryover from the Plus Six, with the major updates being in tech to make the car easier to live with—from the operation of the HVAC and Sennheiser audio system to wireless charging for your mobile. With the noise-cancellation aid, Morgan reckons you’d be able to have a phone conversation at 70 mph even with the roof down.

So it looks like owners really will have no excuse not to daily drive it.