Morris EV - The Retro Electric Van.
Down by the Cotswolds, in tiny Hintonon-the-Green, Morris Commercial’s controlling shareholder, Qu Li, has a dream of her own.
A Chinese mechanical engineer who’s spent 30 years in the U.K., for 2023 she hopes to put into limited production an electric van inspired by the beloved postwar Morris J-type van, once a ubiquitous postal and delivery vehicle highly regarded for its excellent space-to-footprint ratio and jolly visage.
With 2500kg of gross weight and a range of up to 400 kilometers, the all-new, all-electric Morris offers a class-leading payload of 1000kg. This is principally accomplished by combining a lightweight aluminium frame with a body made of carbon fibre.
Morris Commercial Cars was the world's largest commercial-vehicle manufacturer in the 1950s. In 1968, the one-time BMC brand was folded into the nationalized conglomerate British Leyland and saw its name retired.
From there, it became a winding path: its parent company was renamed, merged, bought out by management, and sold to a private equity firm and then to Russian owners.
In 2009, now called LDV (Leyland-DAF Vans) and again headed for bankruptcy, the company had its assets acquired by Qu Li's Eco Concepts, a purchase that generated much tabloid interest.
A China-born engineer with family ties to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, Li, who had emigrated to the U.K. years earlier but traveled extensively between the two countries, quickly sold many of the assets of LDV to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.
Li was an outlier in the British industry for being a woman and Chinese, and she faced harsh criticism. Thanks to her, many of the British firm's assets were sold in bankruptcy to China, where both her parents worked in the auto industry and where her connections clearly helped.
But Li, who has lived in Britain for more than 30 years and holds Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering and materials, claims her goal is to help restore Britain's vehicle industry. With this in mind, she kept the Morris Commercial name and intellectual property for what she hopes will be her big play.
For instance, unusually in these days of electric-car fever, Li said the company will not be taking customer deposits until the order from small-production factory is confirmed. Before then, money will be put aside in an escrow account. Morris will not touch that money until the point when the vehicle is made.
Nor will there be an IPO in the new company. Wise choices.
With her background in light trucks and vans, Li said, she became convinced that a purpose-built EV was the best strategy. But why use the form of the J-type? It's a classic design. Vans should not be ugly or have to be white colour only.
Proof of the wisdom of Morris Commercial's retro strategy, Li said, has come in visits from Red Bull and the Royal Post Office, both of which have expressed interest in the van with the old-school looks and modern purpose-built electric architecture.