Morgan breaks with tradition with plan for fuel-cell prototype

Many British specialist sports car makers have fallen by the wayside, but Morgan just keeps on going – and now it’s looking to the future with a plan to be one of the first car makers to commercialise a hydrogen fuel-cell car.

The company is famous for its traditional production methods, but for next year’s Geneva show managing director Charles Morgan announced a plan to launch the Morgan ‘Life Car’ - a hydrogen-fuelled, zero-emissions car – but built using Morgan’s wooden-framed body.

The car is intended to demonstrate that a zero emission vehicle can also be fun to drive. Artist’s impressions of the car show a vehicle shaped like the Aero 8, but with aerodynamic fairings covering the wheel arches. It will be a very lightweight car with a fuel cell hybrid powertrain, which will give it a 200-mile range. It’s being developed in partnership with hi-tech specialists including Cranfield University, QinetiQ, Oxford University and Linde AG.

Meanwhile Morgan is performing well. Almost all of the 100 limited run AeroMaxs have now been sold, and Morgan’s total sales last year reached 650. “We have a full order book for 2007 for both the traditional Morgan and the AeroMax, and we’ve just launched a new Aero 8 for the US” said Charles Morgan. The Aero 8 America has a 335bhp 4.4-litre BMW V8 engine and costs $115,000.

Morgan also announced it would run a full three-car works team in the FIA GT series this year, and fittingly for a maker of ‘living classics’, it has hired two classic racing drivers to head the team. Jacques Lafitte and Jean-Pierre Jabouille were both Grand Prix winners in the 1970s, and are still committed sports car racers.