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Morgan, Maker of Classic Handmade Sports Cars, Is Going Electric (arstechnica.com)

Posted by timothy on from the toothbrushes-dylan-where-will-it-stop? dept.

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.

8 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Old News by sunderland56 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Old News by sims+2 · · Score: 2

      Did starters used to be well built enough for that? Afaik anything more than a few seconds cranking risks burning out the starters on modern vehicles.

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      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    2. Re:Old News by Woldscum · · Score: 2

      You can do this with any old non computer controlled vehicle with a traditional clutch. You only need to disable the neutral safety switch and pull the coil lead off. Less than 30 seconds is fine. With a cooling down period between.

  2. When you see names like the +4+ by John+Allsup · · Score: 4, Funny

    When you see names like the +4+, you start to wonder whether Morgan was founded by time travelling Lisp hackers.

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    John_Chalisque
  3. Something's changed at Morgan's management by dwywit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

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    They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    1. Re:Something's changed at Morgan's management by damnbunni · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's a corporation; it's owned by shareholders. (It's not a subsidiary of someone else, which is probably what you meant.)

      The current chairman is a longtime friend of the late Peter Morgan, apparently.

      Morgans are all still hand-built, though they may have improved efficiency in their assembly; the waiting list is apparently down to six months.

    2. Re:Something's changed at Morgan's management by mccalli · · Score: 2

      Although I agree with your post, that wasn't 'a management consultant'. That was Sir John Harvey-Jones, former chief executive of the UK's largest manufacturer - Imperial Chemical Industries, better known as ICI.

      I agree with your point and it's a classic example, but he wasn't randomly brought in to businesses. At the time Morgan's future was far from certain, and he was brought in to advise on it. Morgan listened, said thank you and decided to keep going their own way. They did change though - look at the Aero 8, definitely not ye olde Morgan.

  4. Expert didn't get it. by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

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    I don't read AC A human right