British-based Morgan is peculiar in that throughout its 113-year history, it’s known for one thing: three-wheeler sportscars. Now, it has unveiled the 2022 Super 3—a ground-up redesign of its icon while still adhering to the brand’s tenets of driving thrills and character.
For the first time in Morgan’s history, their three-wheeler is now built on a true monocoque. With stressed exterior surfaces, it not only makes the overall construction lighter and more rigid, but also maximizes the packaging giving the two-seater sportscar more interior room. Further displaying their innovative construction technique, the front exposes its structural casting elements similar to that of motorcycles.
Powering the Super 3 is a Ford-sourced 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine mated to a Mazda-sourced 5-speed manual. While its 118 horsepower, 150 Nm of torque outputs don’t seem outrageous, it only has 635 kilograms of mass to push around. That means it does the 0 to 100 km/h run in 7 seconds, while top speed is pegged at 209 km/h. Fuel economy, meanwhile, reaches 17 km/L.
The Super 3 is the company’s first clean-sheet design, yet it celebrates the marriage of design and engineering with every feature—no matter how superficial it may appear—serving an underlying mechanical purpose. The front-end portrays the familiar two-round headlight design and horseshoe grille, while the front wheels have maximized positive offset allowing for the longest possible suspension travel.
One challenge faced during the creation of Super 3 was the desire to maintain a small footprint while also improving on the turning circle of the outgoing model. Sculpted castings carefully flank the engine, with rectangular radiators sitting outboard of these castings, and this limited the space available for the front wheels.
To overcome this challenge, the radiators have been put behind extremely thin and flat panels. On a jet aircraft, these panels would be referred to as ‘diffuser plates’; on Super 3, these ‘diffuser plates’ are referred to as the ‘sideblades’. The sideblades efficiently manage inbound and exhaustive airflow through the radiators.
Built for open-top motoring, the 2022 Super 3’s interior is rated IP64 making any part of the “cabin” dust- and water-proof down to the integrated USB sockets. The minimalist dashboard has now gone fully digital, while choice of seating material ranges from vinyl, water-resistant leather, saddle leather, and a fabric with high levels of water and UV resistance.
A universal fixing – the same as the ones mounted to the vehicle sideblades – is mounted under the dashboard and allows for a cup holder or Quad Lock phone mount to be fitted. Bungee cords can be fitted to the chassis impressions in the outer cockpit to provide a quick storage solution for coats, maps and small bags, while a discreet lockable under seat compartment allows more valuable items to be stored.
The 2022 Super 3 succeeds the 3 Wheeler which was produced from 2011 to 2021. Every Super 3 will be built in the U.K. with prices starting at £41,995 (P 2.884 million).
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