The launch of the hotly anticipated Morgan EvaGT sports car has been pushed back two years following the company’s decision to develop an all-new magnesium chassis for the car.
The menacing EvaGT four-seat coupe was scheduled to launch at the 2012 Geneva motor show in less than three months’ time, but Morgan Motor Company managing director Charles Morgan regretfully confirmed the chassis rethink meant the production car would not be ready until 2014.
“While this delay is undesirable and inconvenient, we have taken the decision to pursue these projects to ensure the EvaGT is at the forefront of both environmental and safety technology,” he said.
In the second half of this year, Morgan signed on as the lead partner in the ‘MagMog’ project – a collaborative effort to use revolutionary materials for chassis development. The project recently secured £1.4 million ($2.2 million) in funding from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board.
The project aims to develop technologies enabling magnesium alloy to be used as the primary material in the construction of the body-in-white structure for the EvaGT.
Morgan says magnesium is the lightest structural material available and is 30 per cent less dense than aluminium (the material previously earmarked for the EvaGT), giving it improved structural integrity at a reduced comparative weight.
A prototype of the Morgan EvaGT was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August 2010. The rear-wheel drive sports car prototype featured a 228kW/400Nm BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine, claimed to sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds, and promised to use just 7.1 litres of fuel per 100km.
Morgan Cars Australia previously said production of the EvaGT for local customers was scheduled for 2013, although that is now likely to push out to 2015.
