A day with Morgan boss Steve Morris

At Morgan, they are used to visitors who arrive late.

Even if the flow of traffic through road improvements M5 famous not impede their progress, newcomers will still be wandering the streets confusing from the bottom of the Malvern Hills for a while before finding Pickersleigh Road and clusters of old factory building that has been home Morgan for all except three of the last 106 years.

09:30

When I arrived at the reception center, I run the gauntlet of visitors everpresent Morgan. They throng the place. Companies showed nearly 30,000 people per year through the website link Malvern and requires 15 guides part time (mostly owner Morgan) to handle, which is partly why they charge £ 20 a head for pleasure.

On Tuesday, people have formed the group is happy to tour the factory, back or collect the car they had rented, lined up for an hour of paid passenger ride, crowding stores Morgan (about to triple in size to increase stocks and reduce pressure) or just hang out in spacious cafe because it just feels good to be there.

That's the thing about Morgan: even a mere businesas visitor feels good to be there. I can not help noticing that while most of the customers are in a respectable side of middle age, people who fulfill their needs are young, inexperienced in the company's knowledge and obviously proud to be there. It already says a lot about the culture of the modern Morgan and the person in charge to maintain it.

09:45

When I finally arrived at his office, Steve Morris, Morgan director for the past three years, has been working for several hours. She smiled and explained that she likes the morning because you get stuff done before the chaos. This is not one of those who manage the job as director in which the oil and expel subordinates wheel complications. You get into everything: racing, the weekend club prize-givings, visit car dealers launched to customers, complaints, negotiating with suppliers and everything in between.

Now, Morris was signed stacks of cards as if it was Christmas, not the beginning of summer. That's because every purchaser of a new Morgan received a note of thanks and congratulations from the man over the company, immediately after taking delivery. Many owners have a dozen of them. morgan people tend not to stray.

Morris waves me into a comfortable chair and magics up a cup of tea so we could talk. It turned out that Morris was in the wrong office and has been for several years. He should be the one next door, which was previously inhabited by Charles Morgan and his father, Peter, before it. And founder HFS Morgan in the first instance, of course. The place is run by his old job as director of operations, but it has been difficult to find the time to move.

10:15

Still talking, we started the plant running, something passionately believe Morris went to work. He seems to recognize everyone, despite knowing the name 182 may be a challenge. We left the admin building at the top of the site (one of the two original placed by HFS in 1913) and worked our way down through the building which has gradually grown down the hill, away from Pickersleigh Road. Today, there are modern paint shop to one side and the final assembly building more modern even far below the site. This whisper, but Morgan was not just the old stuff.

major preoccupation of the company is to establish a new delivery from Aero 8 (Morris has just taken delivery of its own) and to the progress of EV3, remarkable stylish, battery-powered version of the 3 Wheeler is causing such a stir at the Geneva motor show in March.

MD was heading to a meeting about a second. Even so, it automatically stops in areas of interest journalism. It was obvious he could never get away from the nuts and bolts of it. He waved a large superformed panel on and take a small component of the litter with aplomb from a technician, because he is one.

A local lad, Morris joined the company at age 16 as an apprentice sheet metal, after repeatedly being forced by her father to ask for a job. After that, his career was headed upward, driven by a work ethic, ambition and ability to get along with people. He made foreman, helping to modernize the antiquated work practices, and then went on to higher education at Birmingham City University, "because I can not see myself making hats forever".

After that, the Morgan family perceived quality and bring it into the upper echelons of the company. He has been the boss since 2013, but on the board for a decade.

10:30

We're late for EV3 review, which took place adjacent to the old factory building in a small shed once inhabited by Chris Lawrence, a celebrated engineer with strong connections Morgan. It now houses a new chief engineer John Beech, head of design Jonathan Wells and their team. From the outside, the building looks barely bigger than a double garage. Inside, it has comfortable accommodation for seven or eight people. People know it's weird, but no one complained.

Morris pulled a chair to the table Beech and they began speaking schedule. It's all very well for a prototype to win approval at the motor show, but EV3 - that Morgan already has a platoon of customers - need a few pieces of very different powertrain sourced from suppliers who are very different. Will it be okay?

Meanwhile, the designers are working on a very different kind of launch. Selfridges, upscale shops, will show and sell the first 20 EV3s in the guise of a unique production. Dealing with them has mostly been happy, I'm told, but their priorities are different from 'normal' car dealership. Are they still happy?

Arc discussion back and forth like a tennis ball at Wimbledon, runs right through the little things make a new kind of car. Meanwhile, EV3 sounded interesting. This will mimic the performance figures of regular, gasoline-powered 3 Wheeler and offers a range of around 150 miles. meeting today threw concerns over time and battery spec and supply, but no major problems.

However, sitting in meetings like this bring home to the layman risks involved in the manufacture of automobiles, especially for small companies. But then, as Morris reminds me, the Morgan has received them for more than a century.

11:30

One more stop down the hill, away from Pickersleigh Road, and we are in the assembly and final inspection shop, filled with Aero 8s are approaching the delivery stage. They look great, but the eyes of their boss very closely because of a show called 'Dealer Collection Day' is looming, and there is nothing more important than new cars than people who have to sell it. Fortunately, strong demand has hearteningly.

12:45

Back at the office for a lunch sandwich in Morris table, which, I gather, is the norm unless there is a VIP on. Delicious, anyway.

I touched on politics Morgan. For a guy whose elevation to the top job at Morgan has been surrounded by a fair bit of internecine strife, Morris seems very complicated. He handles questions about the 2013 abolition of the former MD Charles Morgan, the sensational at the time, to play what I describe as a dead bat-friendly: he just thinks it's ancient history. Charles Morgan do councils do not like and they show their displeasure. End of.

01:45

The next meeting was not on the agenda, but we walked in to the visitors center to review Morgan web and social media publicity surrounding the Geneva event. There has been a huge surge: many young interest in EV3 which spread to Aero 8. Everyone seemed pleased with the confidence of visitors and the way they hung around on the site.

The meeting went into my numbers might not be reported, but it is interesting that in a group of seven people, only Morris and I am older than the early 30s. Reports of younger people do not 'get' Morgans seem to be quite wrong. This pays for the car - or a sports car - that's the hurdle.

03:30

Back at the office of Morris, I met Phil Arch, an expert skills with strong connections universities and colleges, whose job is to place graduates into companies that require skills. He has 13 years strong relationship with Malvern Link. This is a project close to the heart MD and he takes time with it. Morgan has been accepted and developed a lot of young people since the Arch gets going, have benefited from it and want more. "We're an open book," said Morris.

04:30

Morris says goodbye. M5 is about to close in on me, we both know. In addition, he has some work hours into the future, to do things that can not be said about the hack. It is not time yet.

I was overloaded with info but also full of excitement. Morgan inspiring place, and a lot of it is because of outstanding young team of movers and shakers, led by a young MD. Distracted, however, is a timeless quality Morgan always had, something which everyone takes as a given. Who would bet against Morgan is in Malvern link in another century? Not them, not me.

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