THE FIRST NEW MORGAN IN 20 YEARS!

The Morgan Motor Company has announced plans for an entirely new two-seater sportscar to compliment its existing range.

The two most important design objectives for the new car, which will have an all aluminium chassis, are low weight and long term durability, says Morgan. The company's core coach building skills will be in evidence in the new car, which will have a body frame of European ash hardwood clothed in a combination of hand-formed and 'superformed' aluminium panels.

It will be the first Morgan where both body and chassis are made from the latest high quality aluminium. Though every panel of the bodywork will be new, the car will be instantly recognisable as a Morgan. The new model will complement the current rangge of two-seater and four-seater sports cars, and not directly replace any model.

The new car design, the largest development project ever undertaken by the company, began with Morgan's GT2 racecar in 1996. The racer ran with existing Morgan bodywork in the 1997 FIA GT series.

A chassis for the racer was developed with the help of resources at Birmingham University. It had to be simple to manufacture, yet give exceptional torsional rigidity. Both this chassis and various combinations of components were tested for durability over long distances during the 1996 and 1997 racing seasons, often in extreme conditions and with racing tyres giving very high loadings on the chassis and suspension components. The racing experience also gave a competitive edge to the project and speeded up feedback and new design iterations.

During this development phase, the stiffness of the original chassis was significantly improved, and the chassis has now been tested to current European crashworthiness requirements using facilities at MIRA.

Though the racecar became competitive, any outright class wins were out of reach due to the aerodynamics of the traditional Morgan bodywork. When launched, the new car will sport an entirely new shape, styled in-house by Morgan and developed in the full-size MIRA wind tunnel. This new design will successfully combine low drag with negative lift at the front and rear axles, but Morgan is keeping details of the styling under wraps until the car is unveiled in March 2000.

Like the Morgan founder's sliding pillar design, the suspension for the new model is an in-house design that benefits from racing experience. It will make good use of aluminium extrusions to reduce unsprung weight. The braking system has also been designed and specified with motorsport in mind.

The interior will feature hand-tailored leather, bare aluminium and also expose some of the hardwood features of the ash frame. For the first time in a Morgan, air conditioning and electric windows are likely to be fitted. As with current models, customers will still be able to choose from an almost infinite range of body colours and interior leather trim options to customise their car to their own specification.

Disguised prototypes have undergone extensive testing with thousands of road and track miles being accumulated in different climates throughout Europe. Compliance with at least 50 separate requirements for European Whole Vehicle Type Approval has been Morgan's objective since the start of the project. Emission standards will be to the latest levels, incorporating misfire and tank leakage detection. Like the current Morgan flagship, the Plus 8, the new car will be powered by a large capacity V8. With finished cars expected to weigh in at around 1000kg, performance is expected to be stunning.

The company aims to have the car in production by mid-2000. Prices are expected to be above those of the current Plus 8, which will continue alonside the new car.

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