New Morgan Plus Four gets BMW turbo power

Morgan has launched its almost all-new Plus Four sports car at a VIP event held at its British factory in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Claimed to be 97 per cent new, despite looking remarkably similar to the Plus 4 it replaces, the new entry-level Morgan adopts the car-maker's new bonded aluminium chassis first used on the Plus Six launched at last year's 2019 Geneva motor show.

The more advanced underpinnings, said to be both stiffer and lighter than the old steel platform, are combined with Morgan's favoured technique of using a hand-made ash frame and hand-beaten aluminium body panels.

Measuring around the same as the old car, the new Morgan Plus Four is 78mm narrower than the Plus Six – but that hasn't stopped it from sharing its bigger brother's more sophisticated double-wishbone suspension and gets both ABS braking and power steering.

Weighing in at just 1009kg, the ultra-lightweight sports car ditches the old car's Ford Duratec engine for the same BMW-sourced 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder seen in the Toyota Supra, dishing out 190kW and 400Nm.

Against the clock, the combination of its new BMW TwinPower engine, eight-speed automatic and reduced mass is a formidable one, with the little Plus Four taking only 4.8 seconds to hit 100km/h from rest, before topping out a blustery 240km/h.

If you prefer a manual, Morgan will oblige, but the torque limitations of the six-speed mean the engine has to be turned down to produce 350Nm – still enough for a 0-100km/h time of 5.2 seconds and an identical top speed.

The key motivation behind the switch from Ford to BMW power is the new 2.0-litre turbo mill produces 30 per cent less CO2 than the old car with the auto version emitting just 159g/km of CO2.

As standard, the new Plus Four gets auto LED headlights, 15-inch alloy wheels, remote central locking and a black mohair roof.

Despite being priced from £62,995 ($A120,000) in the UK, there's still a long list of options for the bottom rung of Morgan ownership, with most buyers expected to pay more for metallic paint, must-have 15-inch wire wheels, puddle lights and a sound system.

Morgan says it will offer more traditional buyers the old car's luggage rack and rear-mounted wheel, if desired.