You won’t be able to tell it by just looking at the car, but the Morgan Plus Six is all-new underneath the skin. The retro-styled roadster features a familiar design but rides on the company’s new CX-Generation aluminium bonded platform which is twice as rigid as the previous architecture of Morgan. Interestingly, parts of the platform are made of wood, but the automaker says there’s no weight penalty and the structure weighs less than 100 kilograms in total.

Gallery: Morgan Plus Six

Under the bonnet of the Plus Six is a 3.0-litre straight-six turbocharged engine from BMW. In fact, this is the same (B58) unit that also powers the new Toyota Supra. In this application, it delivers 335 bhp and 369 pound-feet of torque. The unit is mated to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and a manual gearbox is in the works.

Morgan Plus Six
Morgan Plus Six

The low weight of just 1,075 kilograms and the use of a BMW-sourced motor, Morgan says, makes the new Plus Six “the most dynamically capable Morgan ever produced.” Translating this into numbers, the car needs 4.2 seconds to reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill while top speed is 166 mph. In addition, the efficient powertrain turns the new roadster into “one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles within the Morgan range” with a combined fuel economy of 38.2 miles per gallon (7.4 litres per 100 kilometres).

Morgan Plus Six

As a true Morgan product, the Plus Six doesn’t feature a large display in the cabin. And if you find the gear shifter on the centre console somewhat familiar, that’s because it’s taken directly from BMW. The car has two driving modes, Sport and Sport Plus, but these only adjust the throttle response and gear shift times as the car doesn’t feature adaptive suspension or steering.

Morgan will produce no more than 300 examples of the roadster per year with each coming with a starting price of £77,995.