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Morgan, Maker of Classic Handmade Sports Cars, Is Going Electric (arstechnica.com)
Ars Technica reports that Morgan, idiosyncratic maker of idiosyncratic cars, is about to make a move that might seem surprising, in light of the company's tradition of conservative design. "Yes," says the article, "you'll be able to buy a wood-framed electric car in 2019." From the article: The Morgan Motor Companyâ"best known for still using postwar styling and wooden body frames for some of its carsâ"will have a full hybrid and electric range within the next three years. The British car maker is going to invest $8.6 million (£6 million) to develop hybrid and electric powertrains for all the models in its range by 2019, working in conjunction with Delta Motorsport and Potenza technology.
make an electric horse carriage .
But then what would the horses do ?
Pretend of course !
Kind of heartwarming to see Malvern make the news somehow, especially on /.
I had an electric Morgan years and years ago. Electric, in the sense that when the petrol engine died, I could put it in gear, and crank the electric starter motor to pull it up the drive and into the shed, so that I could investigate what went wrong this time.
Are they going to hand-wind their own armatures? (Wooden, of couse.)
A hand rolled Morgan electric racer would totally rock!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Will be fun for the surgeons pulling splinters out in case of a crash
When you see names like the +4+, you start to wonder whether Morgan was founded by time travelling Lisp hackers.
John_Chalisque
http://bgr.com/2016/02/01/pors...
For those of you who are concerned, the "idiosyncratic cars" link in TFS goes to Forbes, with all that entails. The other links look clean.
It'll make them more reliable.
There was a TV show some years ago - a proto-reality show - where a management consultant was brought into a company to upgrade their processes, in a bid to improve profitability.
Morgan was one of the companies visited by this smarmy git and his TV crew. Now, the Morgan production line is, well, antiquated. The cars (at the time) were largely hand-built, using hand tools, even hand-powered tools. The visiting expert tried to convince them to automate some of the manufacturing to increase production volume, and to start using cheaper materials to reduce costs. They flat-out said "no", and you could see the expert fail to understand their reasoning. Their orderbook was full for a number of years, they were happy with what they were doing, and the way they were doing it. The expert just couldn't comprehend why they didn't want to change.
And now they're going electric. Who owns Morgan now?
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
It didn't work for Dylan, and it won't work now.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
They already sold out when they switched to metal crankshafts.
If it's a trike, they may be able to pass it off as a motorcycle and sell it in the US without having to add airbags, etc. It would be nice to have Morgans around again. Last time I saw a Morgan (+4) was over 30 years ago, sitting on blocks in a friend's garage, waiting for the right part to show up in the scrap yard.
The visiting expert tried to convince them to automate some of the manufacturing to increase production volume, and to start using cheaper materials to reduce costs.
That expert really didn't get the business model. If they had taken his 'advice' they would have been sunk.
Here's the problem. Automated manufacturing is the realm of the major automobile companies. No small manufacturer is going to be able to compete with the likes of Ford, Toyota, VW, and such in the realm of 'cheap' and 'automated'.
I just so happened to catch a piece on NPR last night about how there's a surge in crafted goods. Up something like 500% over the last decade. As so much of what we purchase and use becomes automated, people become more interested in crafted goods. As the program mentioned, people want stuff with a story behind it.
So you're a tiny car company. You HAVE to distinguish yourself from the 'big boys'. What are they known for? Cheap, plastic, mass market, soulless, etc... So what do you do? Make your car out of wood. That's unique, no mass market car company does that. Not even Rolls-Royce does that anymore. Not just wood though. Hand worked high quality wood.* The whole car made mostly by hand. Hell, sell the car with a photo-album of the crew putting their new car together. You have a waiting list? So much the better! I can smell the snobbery from here. Wood is even renewable, so points there.
Probably what happened is they had enough customers express an interest. Remember, Leno has a couple of century-old electric cars. Yes, electric cars can be 'classic'. Plus, given the way the drive-train works for an electric, it's relatively easy to customize the body you put on top.
*the right types of wood can approach and even exceed the strength of steel for a given amount of mass. It's just a lot bulkier.
I don't read AC A human right
All that and I forgot the conclusion - They can't compete with the major car makers in cheap or fast. They have to differentiate themselves - quality, hand made, story, etc...
Cheap out and/or actually satisfy all the demand? That's a step towards losing their uniqueness. That would kill them quicker than anything. Sure, it might be Rolls-Royce and not Lexus, much less VW that kills them, but they'd be dead all the same.
I don't read AC A human right
Morgan is not post war. It is prewar as is the design of their cars. And we are not even talking about WW2. Morgan was around prior to Henry Ford's cars so we are talking about pre WW1, visual design.
I think they also made a audio only board, too. So, wood car, electric...heck you can find a youtube video of Leno driving an early 1900's electric car. Why not? (Although I'll opt for the fake motor sounds coming out hidden speakers. )
(Tube amp, of course)