You don’t need to be a Silent Generation-er or a Baby Boomer to appreciate the beautiful lines of the Morris Commercial J-Type. If you ask me, the J-Type’s lines remain relevant today, as proven by the the Morris JE Type.
What won us over is, this 2019 version of the iconic commercial van made between 1949 and 1961 stayed true to the original. So original that, at glance, you’d think it was a resto-mod. It takes a brave automaker to do that.
I only wish the same could be the same for the Mini, which incidentally was originally made by Morris Motors Limited founded by the same person, William Morris, who formed the former Morris Commercial.
But uncanny resemblance to its forebear is just skin deep. JE is a modern vehicle through and through. For starter it is electric, a BEV (battery electric vehicle), and it has a modular chassis and carbon fiber body to keep the weight down and putting it within the 2.5 ton (5512 lbs) segment.
Despite it falling under the lightest possible segment in the commercial vehicle market, Morris JE is no slouch in cargo duty. It boasts a ton (1,000 kilograms, or 2,205 lbs) payload and a voluminous 5.5 cubic meter (194 cubic foot) carry capacity.
The electric drive is good for a top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h) while the lithium-ion battery system offers a range of 200 miles (322 kilometers), which is good enough for what it is supposed to do: for shuttling goods within urban settings.
Now for the good and bad news. The good news, Morris JE Type Electric Light Commercial Vehicle is real and it will go on sale in late 2021 for a starting price of around £60,000 (around US$77,300).
The bad news is, it is strictly a commercial vehicle (well, it is a van, is it not?) and therefore, as much as you want to ferry your family in one, you can’t.
All images courtesy of Morris Commercial.
