Morgan reveals Super 3

Designing a brand new model is never easy, but designing a new Morgan three-wheeler has to be up there with penning a new Land Rover Defender or Porsche 911. Granted it has changed during its 113-year history, but familiar cues have remained throughout in both design and engineering.

Now there’s a new one and the famous niche British car company has ditched the Three Wheeler name and called it the Super 3. That’s because it is so very different to the previous model, or at least so says John Wells, Head of Design at Morgan Motor Company.

The first sketches were created two years ago and this was the first clean sheet car for Wells and the current design team, but it still needed to stay true to the character of the generations that have come before it.

It’s the first Morgan to sit on a monocoque platform but an even bigger change is the switch from a motorcycle engine to an inline three cylinder car engine from Ford, just as the company did with the F-Series generation in the 1930s. Wells says that the decision to take this route meant that “everything was designed from the engine out.”

Packaging and legislation forced that change, but at the same time it gave the design team the chance to do things very differently. The change in powertrain has dramatically changed the DRG, already one of the most unusual in the motor industry. Gone is the nakedness of the exposed two-stroke engine, the new unit now sitting behind a mesh grille. Structural and aerodynamic elements are now the main visual features along with distinctive headlamps that sit on stalks which have been designed to channel air to cool the engine.

Wells describes it all as having a real mechanical honesty, something he says is one of his favourite bits about the whole car. Either side of the front face sit positive offset wheels, where here again there are key aero elements, such as the inner covers. The dish wheels themselves are large, with an outer ring that is reminiscent of those on a 1990s Mercedes-Benz. They are wrapped in 20-inch Speedmaster tyres which were developed by Avon especially for the new Super 3.

Most of the vehicle sits behind the front axle, with Wells telling us that the idea is that it should visually appear as though the front wheels are pulling the body of the car along. Like many elements, the design of the unique body has been inspired by the jet age during the middle of the last century.

“During the jet age, the balance of form vs function was equalised,” he says. “It was within these decades that the most aerodynamic forms were not only required, but also admired. The body is made from superformed aluminium which has been sculpted to culminate in what can best be described as a fuselage tail. The whole body is split by a belt line created from an exposed rib that replicates the traditional seam-joining techniques in aircraft.

Mounted along the sides are diffuser panels that Wells calls “sideblades”. Again these have the function of channeling air but they also have mounting points for laser cut metal racks that can be attached to accommodate tailor-made panniers or a suitcase. The motorcycle engine may have gone, but it’s elements like these that make the Super 3 what Wells calls “a motorcycle for car people.’

Unlike a motorcycle, there is an interior with space for two occupants. The instrument panel is a simple structure containing aviation-inspired controls and displays. For the first time, the Morgan dials are digital and there’s the option of a motorcycle-style navigation pod on top of the steering column.

The overall ambience is of simplicity and while there are USB ports, a bolt on cup-holder is optional and so too are bungee cords to strap your coat to the indentations in the side panels. The Super 3 is not a car for those who want modern luxuries, although for the first time this Morgan three-wheeler does have a heater in the footwell. It is also possible to have it with some modern and technical fabrics, including vegan options and all of them are waterproof, as are the electrics.

Then there are the many options that Wells says makes the Super 3 the most configurable Morgan ever. These include three suggested specification packs, graphics, trim materials, a range of bespoke luggage and other touring accessories.

Some of the elements in the new Morgan Super 3 will take some getting used to, not that you are likely to see one very often, but all of them come together in a design that Wells and his team are very proud of. He describes the Super 3 as the perfect example of how Morgan offers a cohesion of design, engineering and craft but more than that, it offers the spirit of adventure.