Big updates for Morgan’s Plus Four and Plus Six

09th November 2022

Bob Murray

Morgan’s journey to becoming a more premium and modern sports car maker – already massively boosted since the launch of the new BMW-powered CX-generation models – gets a further fillip in the new year when refreshed versions of the Plus Four and Plus Six arrive in showrooms.

The big news? Well, Morgan’s four-wheelers are getting a glovebox for the first time, which doubtless will please owners. That’s no big shakes for the rest of us perhaps, but it does point to the comprehensive nature of the revamp, what Morgan’s chief design officer Jonathan Wells describes as a “holistic whole vehicle study”. We’ve heard some euphemisms for “facelift” before but that gets the prize.

Changes are confined to the interior and under the skin, with a focus on craftsmanship, safety, refinement and infotainment. One thing that hasn’t changed is of course the inimitable Morgan body style. So you might not be able to tell at a glance the 2023 models from earlier cars – but then isn’t that the whole point of Morgan?

To their modern BMW turbo drivetrains and wide-body bonded-aluminium CX platforms you can now add airbags and electronic stability control, in both Plus Four and Plus Six. Are you staggered they weren’t already available? They were, but only as options in the UK.

There’s also a whole new braking system, developed with AP Racing, and tweaks to the automatic versions to make gear-changing more dynamic. New dampers and suspension bushes are said to improve the ride.

All worthy then but see the cars in the showroom and it will be the revamped interior that promises to make the biggest impression. Morgan says it is a new interior, with a new superformed aluminium dashboard (complete with that glovebox, trimmed in leather) which is available in a range of finishes including body colour.

There are tech updates – a larger LCD screen with updated graphics and extra USB ports – but top billing goes to an injection of craftsmanship, with new worsted wool fabrics and more wood on show. A new strip of timber across the cabin at the base of the dashboard is available in a range of finishes, as are the optional new marquetry veneer options of the centre console. We like the sound of the veneer interspersed with strips of stainless steel. And we love the new stainless steel and saddle-leather door handles with their bolt-action.

There are more upholstery options (black pebble grain leather and black fabric are standard) while seats, steering wheel and door cards are all updated. A new option is a Sennheiser premium sound system, developed for the cars and said to be the highest hi-fi Morgan has ever offered. In another Morgan first, you can now have a cupholder in your Plus Four or Six.

“The Plus line in 2023 presents a marked evolution of the four-wheeled Morgan,” design boss Wells tells us, adding that the enhanced perceived quality will be immediately evident.

The latest Morgan four-wheelers will be available from January 2023 to correspond with the arrival of new curated specification themes along with 12 new graphic packs – including roundels, bonnet stripes and strikethrough numbers.