Morgan to produce fuel-cell car

Traditional meets futuristic

8 March 2007 16:24 GMT / By Jonathan Goddard

Traditional, hand-built car specialist Morgan has announced its plan to be one of the first car makers to produce a hydrogen fuel-cell car.

Morgan "Life Car" - a hydrogen-fuelled, zero-emissions car – will be built using Morgan’s existing wooden-framed body. The car, announced at the Geneva Motor Show, is intended to demonstrate that a zero emission vehicle can also be fun to drive. Artist’s impressions of the car show a vehicle shaped like the Aero 8, but with aerodynamic fairings covering the wheel arches. It will be a very lightweight car with a fuel cell hybrid powerplant, which will give it a 200-mile range.

It’s being developed in partnership with hi-tech specialists including Cranfield University, QinetiQ, Oxford University and Linde AG.

Morgan also announced it would run a full three-car works team in the FIA GT series this year, and fittingly for a maker of "living classics", it has hired two classic racing drivers to head the team: 1970s F1 Grand Prix winners Jacques Lafitte and Jean-Pierre Jabouille.