Morgan is waving goodbye to the Plus Six and welcoming its replacement – the Supersport. Although you might be tempted to say it’s just a facelift of its predecessor, the newcomer is essentially a different car altogether. The retro-modern sports car adopts styling cues from the Midsummer concept and is underpinned by a revised aluminum platform. It brings a 10% boost in torsional rigidity, plus another 10% if you spring for the carbon roof.
The Supersport is a two-in-one car in the sense that it features interchangeable roofs. The fabric top can be swapped out for a body-colored carbon composite hard top that weighs 19.7 kilograms (43 pounds). The coupe gets a large and curved rear glass for better visibility, but we’d probably stick to the folding soft top for its sleeker profile. Although it’s slightly heavier than its predecessor, it tips the scales at just 2,579 pounds (1,170 kg), roughly as much as a Miata RF.
Photo by: Morgan Motor
But while the MX-5 has a four-cylinder engine with 181 hp, the Supersport has nearly double the horsepower. It uses a BMW “B58” unit, a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six good for 335 hp and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque. The new Morgan flagship takes 3.9 seconds to reach 62 mph (100 km/h) and maxes out at 166 mph (267 km/h).
The BMW connection is obvious from the moment you hop inside the cabin. The retro look is contrasted by a modern gear selector for the eight-speed transmission of Bavarian origins. It reminds us of the Ineos Grenadier off-road SUV, where the utilitarian interior stands in stark contrast to the BMW gear lever. Sadly, there’s no manual gearbox available for the Supersport. Elsewhere, the wooden dashboard hosts analog dials and a digital screen in front of the driver.
Morgan is already accepting orders and charges £85,000 in the UK. At current exchange rates, that works out to $110,000. There’s no word just yet about bringing the new rear-wheel-drive machine to the United States.
Photo by: Morgan Motor
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Source: Morgan Motor Company
