LONDON: Marcos Motor Company Ltd, custodian of the original assets of the British sports-car marque founded in 1959, has unveiled plans to develop its first new vehicles in around two decades.
Three distinct programmes are under evaluation, with physical prototypes already in build.
The first project reimagines a classic Marcos silhouette on a modern platform complete with contemporary drivetrain.
Developed primarily to test in-house capabilities, this prototype programme has already completed its initial running phase and may be earmarked for track-only use.
The second initiative delivers an all-new model designed for both road and circuit.
A fully crash-tested, homologated rolling chassis has been engineered and is currently undergoing further validation.
Although it bears no visual ties to legacy Marcos designs, the car is being engineered to uphold the brand’s ethos of low weight, mechanical simplicity and engaging, seat-of-the-pants handling.
The third strand comprises officially sanctioned continuation cars. By owning the original body moulds, manufacturing tooling and jigs for nearly every Marcos model produced over more than 65 years, the company can recreate faithful, contemporary versions of its historic models.
These continuation vehicles will carry the Marcos logo and be built under the marque’s manufacturing and brand rights.
Marcos Motor Company will maintain its existing Heritage Spares service, offering genuine parts, servicing and repairs to current owners.
This operation will benefit from the wider expertise of the group, which includes specialist engine tuning and an automotive body-and-paint business with over a century of history.
Performance upgrade packages, developed by the group’s in-house engine specialists, will also be made available.
Owner and chairman Howard Nash, who bought the marque in 2022 after serving as a director since 2021, said Marcos’s legacy of “analogue, driver-focused handling” continues to attract enthusiasts. Nash leads the group under parent company Automotive Vision alongside subsidiaries Marcos Engineering Ltd, Marcos Sales Ltd and Marcos Heritage Spares Ltd.
Marcos’s history is marked by innovation and motorsport success: its early monocoque-chassis cars set a standard for race-car design; the Mini Marcos was the highest-placed British finisher at the 1966 Le Mans; and the 1998 Mantis GT became Britain’s first 500bhp road-legal production car.
The marque’s models have been driven by figures from Jackie Stewart and Derek Bell to Jay Leno, who lauded the GT as “one of the prettiest and most unusual sports cars of all time.”
