Morgan Motor Company launches race-inspired Aero GT

Morgan Motor Company has announced its most extreme model to date; the race-inspired Aero GT. Using lessons learned from Morgan’s GT3 race victories, the Aero GT is based on the lightweight aluminium Aero 8 but features an all-new hand-worked, aerodynamically honed body which reduces drag but significantly increases downforce.

The idea was conceived during the development of the 2015 Morgan Aero 8, but the aggressive Aero GT won’t see the light of day until the final eight Aero 8 cars roll out of Morgan’s Pickersleigh Road factory in 2018.

With close consultation between head of design, Jon Wells, and Morgan’s talented metal workers who have perfected their skills over a lifetime, every panel of the bespoke Aero GT is reworked by hand with new wing top louvres, deep side impressions and a drastic rear diffuser. Contradicting the styling department’s usual approach to maintaining fluid forms, the designers embraced these new body enhancements.

All eight Aero GT models – already accounted for by existing Morgan customers – will be individually tailored to each owner. Individually numbered cars will each leave the factory with bespoke customer-requested additions, in line with Morgan’s hand-crafted approach.

Fitted with a 367bhp 4.8-litre BMW V8 and six-speed manual gearbox, also found in the Aero 8, the Aero GT sprints from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, before going on to a top speed of 170mph. With the engine no longer in production, the Aero GT is not only a last hurrah for the current Aero 8 but for the naturally aspirated BMW engine, too.

The Aero models marked a new era for Morgan when the Aero 8 was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000. A new design and lightweight aluminium construction ushered in a new level of performance for the Morgan brand, which has reached its latest and most extreme evolution in the Aero GT.

“The beauty of working so closely with talented sheet metal workers and coachbuilders is that designers are relatively unrestrained in their ability to challenge the forms and their functions,” said Morgan’s head of design  Jon Wells.

“Unlike many, we are able to make truly special limited edition vehicles that really exercise the imagination of the designer and the ability of the craftsman. The Aero range has always offered Morgan the platform to explore the boundaries of mechanical and styling design and I am delighted the family has allowed one of our wildest ideas to become a reality.”