Morgan - Geneva 2015

Aero 8 is back ... looking like exactly like it did before (no bad thing in our books)

Morgan going back to the old school isn't really a surprise. It's what the British sports car maker has been doing for most of its 106-year history. But now the company has reached into its more recent history for inspiration for the new Aero 8, which has just been unveiled at Geneva - the 1999 car of the same name.

AeroMax influence clear from behind

The original Aero 8 was the first Morgan to use the combination of a bonded aluminium chassis and a BMW-sourced V8 engine, and spawned a series of increasingly mad-looking and expensive successors - including the AeroMax and Aero SuperSports. Now the company is taking things back to basics - apparently as the result of customer demand - with the new Aero 8 set to cost around £79,000 in the UK before options.

Styling is familiar-but-new, with the slightly myopic front headlight look that we've become used to but a new, longer rear deck that hinges at the back to reveal both a nicely trimmed luggage compartment, and a place for the hood to be invisibly stowed when folded (another first for Morgan.) An optional hardtop will also be sold, which turns the Aero into a decent impression of a coupe.

The fundamentals remain as before with a 367hp 4.8-litre BMW V8 charged with providing both rumble and howl and the choice of manual or automatic gearboxes. The chassis has been made stiffer than before and there's an all-new rear differential that's claimed to cut noise dramatically, and it's still impressively light - just 1,100kg 'dry' with the automatic gearbox.

From a driver's point of view the biggest change will be the slightly redesigned cabin, which still has a reassuring quantity of wood and leather, and especially the new, lower seats. These liberate a couple of inches of extra headroom and mean that, by Morgan standards, the Aero 8 feels positively spacious inside.

Morgan MD Steve Morris tells us that production will be limited to something between 300 and 350 cars, depending on demand.