Morgan has revealed the Supersport as a successor to the Plus Six, claiming the upgraded model will be more dynamic and more practical to live with day to day.

The Malvern brand’s striking new £100k flagship is so extensively modified over the Plus Six that it has been homologated as a completely new car, rather than a facelift - and its new name reflects the brand’s ambition to more clearly separate the new six-cylinder model from its four-pot stablemate.

Morgan’s head of design, Jonathan Wells, told Autocar: “The aspiration for this car was to create some breadth in the portfolio – to create some division between the Plus Four and Plus Six, which are quite closely related at the moment, with fundamentally the same silhouette and the same interior.”

The Supersport adopts a bold new look that melds familiar Morgan hallmarks with more modern and aero-optimised cues. The same treatment was previously deployed on the Midsummer speedster that Morgan designed in partnership with Pininfarina as a Plus Six swansong, though the Supersport was actually finished before that project started.

As well as helping to more clearly separate the Morgan line-up into three distinct strands – Super 3, Plus Four and Supersport – Morgan’s aim with this new car is to provide a more direct alternative to its mainstream rivals.

“We wanted to see performance Morgans back in group tests with other cars, being really pitched against other premium vehicles,” said Wells.

He wants the new roadster to be put up against a “base-level 911 or a well-specced Aston Martin – the idea being that Morgan does make a reputable performance flagship car”.

The Supersport – which continues to use BMW’s 335bhp B58 six-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit – is built around an evolved version of Morgan’s CX aluminium spaceframe, dubbed CXV to reflect how substantially it has been upgraded.

The steering system has been overhauled and rerouted for a boost in feel and responsiveness; the standard suspension has been optimised for a more compliant ride, with 30mm more active travel; the rear subframe mounts have been reworked; and extra chassis reinforcements increase torsional rigidity by 10%.

Morgan managing director and chief technical officer Matt Hole (pictured below) said: “We have gone ground-up through the design again, looking at all the attributes we want the car to have, and how we could engineer them back in. Fundamentally, we’ve changed the structure of the chassis.” Hole explained that the goal was to inject the Supersport with added dynamic prowess while also improving its touring credentials.

“We wanted something that flows down the road, so the car does move on its suspension, and we are making the most of that additional travel,” he said. “There is a bit of body movement. There is some anti-dive geometry in the rear of the car now that helps the car as it sets off. That’s something that we haven’t had before. But the idea is to use the travel and control the wheels.”

Crucial to the car’s more composed and controllable character is a new set of 19in forged alloy wheels that weigh just 9.7kg apiece. That represents a saving of 4kg in unsprung weight per corner over the Plus Six. More conventional 18in cast items are available, but even they are the lightest cast wheels that Morgan has yet produced.

Meanwhile, new Michelin tyres have been chosen for the distinctive dynamic character they support, rather than merely being the grippiest options available.

But just as important as the Supersport’s dynamic enhancements are the various ways in which Morgan has sought to address what Wells refers to as some of “the minor quirks of living with a Morgan” and to make it more viable for use in all weathers and over longer distances.

For example, the roadster now has a boot that opens electronically off the key fob and – together with an enlarged load space behind the seats – can accommodate enough luggage for a weekend away. It can also house the removable side screens, which are now detached much more easily and smoothly using the door handles.

There’s a glovebox under the dashboard plus a new wireless phone charger in the centre console and a hands-free calling system. In addition, the convertible’s tricky Tenax roof fasteners have been swapped for simpler poppers, and the door hinges now have locking points built in so they don’t close themselves when parked on a hill.

“A Morgan, typically, is a third or fourth car for many people and we would like this car to become their only sports car,” said Wells. “We would like this to be legitimately usable 365 days a year.”

Prices for the Supersport start from £102,000, and Morgan expects to build roughly 180 cars this year, before ramping up to an average annual output of around 200 units - slightly more than its predecessor.

Q&A: Jonathan Wells, chief design officer, Morgan Motor Company

Does the Supersport have as much technology as a Morgan customer wants?

“People have these connected lives where everything is device-driven; music isn’t a CD player any more. There’s this idea of ‘quiet power’ with a Morgan, whereby you don’t want something that’s busy and confusing. This is escapism.”

In making your flagship more usable, is there a risk you dilute some of its analogue appeal?

“The Plus Four is still that legacy, traditional Morgan - those Tenax fasteners are going nowhere! The Supersport is definitely about a slightly more contemporary driving focus and the use case is different. It’s not about a quick blast around the Cotswolds. You could go for a long weekend away.”

Did the Plus Four CX-T off-roader influence the Supersport’s more compliant chassis?

“A lot of us consider the CX-T to be what you would expect a Morgan to drive like, having never driven one before: that slightly more linear travel, a little bit of playful body roll, confident in the corners - and just fun to play with.”