New Morgan Supersport revealed as £102,000 flagship with straight-six power

You only need to take a glance at Morgan’s current line up to notice that the Malvern-based firm doesn’t launch a new car all that often, which makes its new Supersport all the more significant. 

Pitched as a replacement for the Plus Six, the Morgan Supersport will sit above the Plus Four as the flagship in the Morgan range – ignoring the limited-edition Midsummer revealed last year. While the overall design might look typically Morgan, the Supersport introduces a number of key changes over the Plus Six, including a new aluminium CXV chassis, a modernised interior and for the die-hard Morgan traditionalists, more wood than ever before.  

“Supersport embodies an effortless combination of dynamic performance – thanks to its new lightweight ‘CXV’ aluminium platform – and contemporary yet unmistakable design,” said Morgan’s managing director, Matthew Hole. “Every element has been carefully considered to create an engaging and responsive driving experience, where technology is seamlessly integrated to enhance – rather than overpower – the connection between car and driver.” 

Morgan Supersport design

The Supersport has been redesigned ‘from the ground up’, according to Morgan. You can spot details such as larger eight-inch headlights taken from the Midsummer, the additional air vents above the front grille, a more curvaceous body with tighter shutlines and an open rear-end diffuser reminiscent of the Midsummer with new rear lights. So far-reaching are the changes that Morgan has had to re-crash the Supersports for safety tests. 

There are two new wheel designs for the Supersport, a standard 18-inch ‘Superlite’ rim or an optional 19-inch ‘Aerolite’ item. Both are made from forged aluminium and represent up to 4.1kg of weight shaved off each corner. Other fresh features include easier-to-use catches for the centrally-hinged bonnet, new door hinges (to reduce exterior noise) and a redesigned ‘Morgan’ script on the rear. 

At the end of that elegant rear hatch – the Supersport is the first Morgan to feature a boot in a decade – you’ll find LED rear lights and a twin exhaust pipe set-up, which are offered in silver or black. Morgan has also tweaked the active sports exhaust and we can confirm it’s louder than the Plus Six’s, having heard them both fire up in person when we visited the firm’s Malvern factory earlier this year. In addition to the rear hatch, there’s an option to add an aluminium luggage rack, which is available in satin silver or dark grey.

The Supersport comes with either a soft-top or a hard-top, although these are both completely interchangeable and can be specified on one single car. The soft-top’s material is mohair and can be had in a variety of colours, along with a cover for added protection. Finished in matching body paint, the hard-top weighs 19.7kg thanks to being made from carbon-fibre. A core design trait of the Plus Six was the removable ‘sidescreens’ that mount on top of the doors. This has been retained for the Supersport, with the structure improved to offer better fitment and sealing. They still work in the same way ,with an interior latch allowing for removal. The mohair section of the screen is also matched to the colour of the soft-top roof. 

Interior and tech

When we saw the covers come off the Supersport, we were able to sit inside the new Morgan. What is immediately obvious is that the company has tried to make its new offering more ergonomic while maintaining classic styling cues. 

The dash layout will be familiar to anyone that’s sat in a Plus Six, with beautifully made Smiths dials front and centre. There’s still a rather modern-looking and chunky steering wheel and the BMW automatic gear selector sticks out of the centre console as before, giving you more than a hint as to the Supersport’s Bavarian powertrain. There’s a new slot just ahead of the gear selector, however, which can house and wirelessly charge your smartphone. The Supersport is also the first Morgan to feature hands-free calling with Bluetooth connectivity. There are also new doors with revised speakers for a Sennheiser sound system and the wooden trim can be had in 11 different finishes. 

Powertrain and specs

A development on the old ‘CX’, the Supersport sits on the ‘CVX’ platform, which the brand says makes it ‘more refined, capable and balanced, whilst retaining the undiluted Morgan driving experience’. Weighing 102kg (including front and rear subframes), the platform  provides a 10 per cent overall increase in torsional rigidity, with the carbon-fibre hard-top adding a further 10 per cent when fitted. Various suspension mounting points have been stiffened by 100 per cent to create a ‘more predictable vehicle response’, according to Morgan. 

The Supersport also benefits from a revised steering set-up, with enhanced ‘feedback and response’. There’s also new front and rear anti-roll bars, plus fresh wishbones, springs and dampers, although the braking system from AP is carried over from the Plus Six. 

Also unchanged is the BMW powertrain, which is a 335bhp 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged six-cylinder engine, linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission. While performance figures haven’t been announced, we were told to expect the Supersport’s 0-62mph time will be almost identical to the Plus Six’s, at 4.3 seconds. The Supersport has a five per cent reduction in drag and a 20 per cent decrease in lift, thanks to its new body, so it could beat the 166mph top speed of the Plus Six. 

Helping transfer that power to the tarmac through the rear wheels is an optional limited-slip differential, which is part of the Dynamic Handling Pack that also adds front and rear adjustable Nitron dampers. Morgan told us it even tried 10 different tyres during the Supersport’s development, before ending up with Michelin Pilot Sport 5 rubber. 

Morgan Supersport pricing

As standard, the Supersport will set you back £102,000, making it more expensive than the final iteration of the Plus Six, the £96,995 ‘Pinnacle’. That price doesn’t include the soft-top or hard-top. If you want either, it’ll set you back a total of £105,500, or £107,500 for both. Available to order now, we can expect first customer deliveries of the Supersport to begin later this year.

Speaking to Auto Express, Matthew Hole said Morgan doesn’t need to ‘sell a lot’ of the Supersport to meet its targets, which the company sees as a sweet spot of around 800 units a year. Broadening the market for Morgan, the firm can sell its models directly in the US as of this year, thanks to the granting of a 25-year ‘replica’ licence. 

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