Morgan has affixed a ‘Supersport’ badge to go-faster versions of its existing cars since 1927. However, after 98 years, the Supersport has become a model in its own right, replacing the Plus Six at the top of the Morgan range.

With bold design, new technology and even somewhere to put your shopping, Morgan hopes the Supersport will appeal to a new breed of customers. “The idea is to broaden our portfolio,” says managing director Matthew Hole. It might even conquer a few sales from the Porsche 911, reckons chief designer Jonathan Wells. Fighting talk from a company that hand-builds around 800 cars a year…

My rendez-vous with the Supersport took place at Morgan Works London, the charming, boutique-style dealership tucked away on a cobbled mews in Kensington. There, I was given a secret preview of the new flagship, plus insight into what comes next for one of Britain’s oldest car companies.

‘Future-focused design’

From its fulsome front wings to its flat, triple-wipered windscreen, the Supersport could only be a Morgan. But look closer and many of its details are unapologetically modern. Jonathan Wells talks about “clashing” between the flowing bodywork and “technical and precise” details, such as the visible satin grey-painted sills or the rear diffuser.

In profile, the Supersport’s purposeful stance and elegantly tapering tail evoke the Morgan Midsummer, last year’s coachbuilt, limited-run project with Pininfarina. As MD Matthew Hole points out, though, the relationship is the other way around: “This car was in development first, so it actually informed the Midsummer’s styling.”

Combining what Wells calls “classic character and future-focused design,” the Supersport is arguably cut from a similar cloth to the new Ferrari 12Cilindri. Both resemble the future as imagined from the past; the Ferrari a radical wedge of supercar from the 1970s, the Morgan a jet-age roadster concept from the 1950s.  

Styling the Supersport

Wide-eyed round headlights, a ‘horseshoe’ grille and a centrally-hinged bonnet give the Supersport a familiar Morgan face, but the bonnet’s traditional, hand-pressed cooling louvres are replaced by a 911 GT3-style central vent with a dark matte finish, along with subtle apertures in front of the doors. 

At the rear, LED lamps are concealed within a full-width black panel alongside a contemporary take on traditional bumper over-riders, while twin tailpipes jut from the centre of the diffuser. There’s also a ‘Morgan’ script on the tail for the first time – “to help people identify the car on the road,” says Wells. The new font is called ‘HFS’ (after company founder Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan) and inspired by the first Morgan ‘wings’ logo from 1909.

The Supersport rides on 18-inch flow-formed ‘Superlite’ alloys as standard, but you’ll definitely want the optional 19-inch forged ‘Aerolite’ rims seen here. Weighing in at 9.7kg per corner, each wheel is more than 4kg lighter than those fitted to the Plus Six. Either way, they come wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 5 rubber, which provides a good balance of cornering grip and wet-weather performance.

Priced from £102,000

In a process that Wells calls “21st century coachbuilding”, the Supersport’s aluminium body is hand-formed over an ash wood frame. Its new ‘CXV’ platform is an evolution of the ‘CX’ architecture that underpinned the Plus Six, but now 10 percent stiffer and made from 60 percent recycled aluminium.

Customers can spec their Supersport with a manually folding mohair soft-top roof for £102,000, or a carbon composite hard-top for £105,000. Or they can have both for £107,000. The removable hard-top is painted in body colour and has a huge curved rear screen that bathes the cabin in light. Its shape also gives the car a flowing, fastback silhouette akin to the much-loved Morgan Aeromax. 

The Supersport still has detachable side screens, but their design is much improved, with more precise fitment and tighter seals to keep out the wind and rain. Even the door hinges are much-modernised. “They feel less like a garden gate and more like a Golf,” quips Wells.