There are faster cars. There are more powerful cars. There are cars that will reach 180mph and cost considerably less. None of them are built the way a Morgan is built, and that, in 2026, is either the point or the problem depending entirely on who is sitting in the driver's seat.
Morgan has spent 117 years making sports cars that look like they belong in another era and go rather faster than that era suggests. The new Supersport 400 extends that tradition to a place the Malvern company has never been: past the 400 horsepower threshold, with a 0 to 62mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 180mph.
It is, officially and formally, the most powerful production car Morgan has ever built.
What is under the bonnet
The engine is BMW's turbocharged 3.0 litre B58 inline six, in its O1 specification. This is the same unit that powers the Toyota GR Supra and the BMW Z4, here tuned by Morgan to produce 402 horsepower at 6,500rpm and 369lb ft of torque from 1,250rpm. The gain over the standard Supersport is 67 horsepower. Torque is unchanged from the regular car.
Drive reaches the rear wheels through a ZF eight speed automatic gearbox with the same gear ratios as the BMW M340i. There is no manual option; Morgan made the same decision for the standard Supersport and has not revisited it. A locking differential is available at extra cost. The standard fitment is an open differential.
The claimed 0 to 62mph time drops by 0.3 seconds compared to the standard Supersport, from 3.9 to 3.6 seconds. Top speed rises by 14mph to 180mph. And all of that happens within a car that, according to Carscoops, weighs 1,170kg — the same as a Mazda Miata RF. The power to weight ratio works out at 344 horsepower per tonne.
That figure is the number that makes the Supersport 400 genuinely interesting rather than simply fast. At that weight and with that power, the car is producing dynamics that considerably heavier rivals cannot replicate regardless of their headline output.
The chassis and suspension
The Supersport 400 is built on Morgan's CXV bonded aluminium platform, which is wrapped around... as it always has been... an ash wood frame. This is not a conceit. The ash frame, bonded to the aluminium structure, contributes to the car's rigidity and weight figure simultaneously. Morgan has been using this approach since long before most of its competitors were founded.
Every Supersport 400 comes as standard with Morgan's Dynamic Handling Pack, which on the regular Supersport costs £3,100 as an option. The pack includes Nitron dampers front and rear with 24 levels of adjustment, tuned specifically for the 400's power output, alongside revised suspension geometry that Morgan says produces more predictable and accurate responses to driver inputs.
A new active performance exhaust system is fitted, developed specifically for the 400. Morgan's own product page describes it as adding "greater character and a more pronounced soundtrack, heightening the sense of occasion with every drive." Which is, in plain English, the admission that this engine should sound magnificent.
Tyres are Michelin Pilot Sport 5 in 235/40 at the front and 255/40 at the rear, mounted on forged 19 inch Sportlite five spoke wheels in silver, with a dark bronze option at extra cost.
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The interior... and the gear lever conversation
Inside, the Supersport 400 offers Alcantara upholstery options in single and two tone configurations alongside the standard leather, bespoke stitching, and custom instrument dials from Caerbont that look analogue while running on modern CAN and LIN communication technology.
The most discussed detail is the gear lever. The standard Supersport uses BMW's own plastic gear selector, which Top Gear described as looking like "an iPhone Pro Max in Downton Abbey." For the first time on any CX generation Morgan, buyers of the 400 can specify a bespoke gear selector designed and made by Morgan, finished in anodised dark grey aluminium. The cost is £1,746. It is, based on every review published since the car's reveal, worth every penny.
The exterior changes are purposeful rather than theatrical. New vents in the front wings improve airflow and cooling for the BMW engine. Lower bodywork panels are finished in gloss rather than the satin grey of the standard car, adding visual contrast. Four new satin paint colours have been created for the 400, and the standard Supersport continues alongside it at £105,723.
The price and the context
The Supersport 400 starts at £112,965 before taxes, which equates to £135,558 on the road in the UK. That is Porsche 911 Carrera S territory. For the same money, a 911 Carrera S gives you 475 horsepower, a twin clutch gearbox, modern infotainment and four decades of proven engineering development.
The Morgan gives you 402 horsepower, a wooden frame, a individually signed build plate, an exhaust note the Porsche cannot match in character terms, and the knowledge that the person who bolted your car together in Worcestershire probably knows your name.
Autoevolution noted that just selecting a paint colour adds £946 to the Morgan's price. The options list for bespoke stitching, Alcantara grades, wheel finishes and the aluminium gear selector can add well over £30,000 to the base figure. At fully specified levels this is a £170,000 car.
Production starts at the Pickersleigh Road factory in May 2026. The Supersport 400 will be a permanent fixture in the range, built in what Morgan describes as "carefully managed" numbers. First deliveries are expected in autumn 2026.
The honest assessment
402 horsepower is not a large number in 2026. Electric crossovers exceed it. German hot hatches approach it. A Ferrari 296 GTB produces more than twice as much. Top Gear said it plainly: "402bhp, to be precise, is not a lot in 2026."
But the Supersport 400 is not competing against Ferrari and it is not trying to win a power war. It is a 1,170kg car with 402 horsepower and 24-way adjustable dampers, handbuilt in Worcestershire on a wooden frame, with an exhaust that was developed specifically to sound like what it is.
The number that actually matters is not the horsepower. It is the weight. At 1,170kg, the Morgan is doing things that a 1,800kg electric crossover with 600 horsepower simply cannot do — not because the electric car lacks power, but because physics did not stop applying when the numbers got large.
Morgan has been making this argument for 117 years. The Supersport 400 is the loudest version of it yet.
Sources:
- Morgan Motor Company — Supersport 400 official page
- Carscoops — A $153,000 Morgan That Looks Like 1938 Runs The Same Engine As A Toyota GR Supra
- Motor1 — Morgan Reveals Its Most Powerful Car Ever: The Supersport 400
- Top Gear — Goodness gracious! This is the most powerful Morgan of all time
- Jalopnik — Morgan Supersport 400 Is The Company's Most Powerful Vintage-Look Roadster Yet
- Rush Magazine — New Supersport 400 is Morgan's Most Powerful Production Car