New Morgan Midsummer Coupe is as rare as it is expensive... very
New Midsummer Coupe is the first fixed-roof Morgan since the Aero Coupe
We’ve just had Midsummer in the UK so it’s timely that British sports car manufacturer Morgan has just revealed the new Morgan Midsummer Coupe.
This is the second ‘Midsummer’ model from Morgan. The first was an exquisite speedster, limited to 50 units, and all were quickly accounted for, despite a price tag north of £200,000.
Having completed the last Morgan Midsummer in March this year, attention now shifts to the new Coupe. This, like the speedster, has been created in collaboration with legendary design house Pininfarina.
Unlike the Midsummer speedster and the Morgan Supersport (which has a soft-top or optional removable hard-top), the biggest change that the Coupe brings is a fixed roof.
While the speedster is ideal for summer, Morgan says the Coupe was “conceived with touring in mind”, combining “year-round usability, luggage practicality and long-distance comfort with the sense of occasion that defined the original Midsummer”. Jonathan Wells, Chief Design Officer at Morgan, called the Midsummer Coupe the “most ambitious and rewarding projects we’ve ever undertaken”.
Realising the ‘intensive collaboration’ with Pininfarina, Morgan says that despite the Coupe sharing the same CXV platform as the Supersport, it still required “substantial structural engineering and development, with the roof, glazing and aluminium body conceived as an integrated vehicle architecture from the outset”.
Some of those substantial changes include new aluminium billet-machined A-pillars, a new windscreen, and a new fixed glass roof, which is bonded into the car’s structure – all helping to improve the Coupe’s rigidity over the Supersport. The side window has also been developed specifically for the Coupe, with the detachable sidescreens on the Supersport being swapped for more contemporary drop-down windows. Despite the addition of a fixed roof, Morgan says the Coupe’s kerbweight has only risen by 2.5 per cent over the 1,170kg Supersport.
In addition to the roof there are plenty of other unique touches to the coachbuilt-Coupe. Morgan has added polished stainless-steel panels along the lower part of the body, three individual air vents slats on the front wing and forged 19-inch aluminium wheels with what is described as “Morgan’s most intricate wheel design to date”.
The example Morgan has shown off is known internally as the “artists’ proof” – serving as a “design, engineering and craftsmanship reference” for the project. While the interior of this car is inspired by “marine applications” with plenty of teak wood, future commissions of the Coupe may explore “alternative timber finishes”, Morgan says. There is scope to change the colour, upholstery and other elements depending on the customer’s wishes.
As for the powertrain, that’s less flexible. But the good news is that it’s BMW’s turbocharged straight-six and it’s the latest version found in the Supersport 400. That means there’s 402bhp and 500Nm of torque going to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic.
Pricing for the Midsummer Coupe hasn’t been revealed, though we do know production will be limited to just 10 units - making it five times rarer than the Midsummer speedster.
With the same basic engine as the Morgan, why not check out the Toyota Supra? Right now used Supras cost from under £35,000 on the Auto Express Buy A Car service.
