New Morgan Plus Six heading for the Goodwood Hillclimb

The new Morgan Plus Six – Morgan’s new BMW-powered car with new underpinnings – gets its first public outing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb.

It’s not often Morgan comes up with a new car, and when it does it’s almost certain to be a slight tweak on an age old recipe. But the new Morgan Plus Six really is a new Morgan.

Yes, the Plus Six still looks like a Morgan – although it has almost no parts carried over from previous generations – but what’s under the skin actually is very different.

The clue is in the name – Morgan Plus Six – so instead of a tried and trusted V8 under the bonnet, the Plus Six comes with a 3.0 lite Turbo six straight from the BMW Z4 (and Toyota Supra).

That means 335bhp and 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds – with power heading for the back wheels through a standard fit ZF eight-speed auto ‘box – and almost no safety systems, save for ABS.

Under the skin, as well as the new 3.0 litre six, there’s a new aluminium and ash architecture  – Morgan call it the CX Platform – which will be the basic structure for Morgan going forward and which will future-proof their cars, allowing plenty of non-Morgan stuff like active safety systems, electric and hybrid powertrains and more to be offered.

But that’s for later, and for now the new Morgan Plus Six is unhampered by such nonsense, and is heading for the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb next week to show what it can do.

Toby Blythe, Morgan’s Marketing man, said:

It is with great pride that Morgan Motor Company can represent the history and evolution of the automobile in Britain at the nation’s largest, and best loved automotive event. The Festival of Speed has become a national institution over the last quarter of a century, and we are delighted to have our newest, and most exciting sportscar going up the famed Goodwood hill.

The Plus Six’s dynamic global debut is an incredibly significant event in the 110th year of Morgan’s wonderful history, and there is no greater place to present the car than the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Morgan Plus Six will make two timed runs each day on the Goodwood Hillclimb, including a timed slot on Saturday.