Gordon Murray's Sub-$50k Sports Car Is Officially Dead

Gordon Murray has officially given up on producing a more affordable sports car. Murray told Road & Track that the expiration date for the project has passed and that it's no longer possible to build the unnamed sports car the world would have known as the T.43.

Murray announced his intentions in 2018, and the list of goals he set had gearheads salivating in anticipation. The T.43 would have been a mid-engine sports car weighing roughly 1,870 pounds. That's approximately 500 lbs fewer than a Mazda MX-5 Miata. It would have been powered by a turbocharged three-cylinder like the GR Corolla, and the aim was to get to roughly 260 horsepower per tonne. Oh, and the tiny engine's impressive power would have been sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual. Still not impressed? The projected base price was under $50,000.

So, who can we blame for the T.43 not reaching production? As it turns out, it's Yamaha's fault. And electricity's.

Murray joined forces with Yamaha to produce this fabled car, and they got as far as building a few functioning prototypes. Then Yamaha made some leadership changes, and the project was canned. "It would've been in production now for four years," Murray told Road & Track. "The business plan we did for them, it was going to be 5,000 units a year. So there would be 20,000 of them out there now."

But surely the father of the McLaren F1 could find another big manufacturer to collaborate with? As it turns out, the answer is no. "The problem [is] now they want electric," said Murray. "The time [to build the car] was then." The opportunity has come and gone.

So, in addition to blaming Yamaha, you can also blame electrification. Thanks to the push for EVs, we lost out on what could have been a proper rival to the Porsche 718 Cayman and Alpine A110. Murray even had the 2011 AR.1 Concept (pictured) to use as inspiration for the design, but alas.

You might be wondering why Murray doesn't simply produce the car using Gordon Murray Designs' facilities. "We don't have the capability to make high-volume [cars]," said Murray. "But we can make it happen for other [manufacturers]."

The T.43 also wouldn't fit in with GMA's current business model. GMA currently only produces the T.50 and T.33, both available with or without a roof. The former also gets a wild track-only variant paying tribute to Niki Lauda. These are all ultra-exclusive machines built for those who wouldn't think twice about dropping a million on a new car. Murray wants to keep GMA models exclusive, ensuring every vehicle leaving the factory will never lose value. Adding a mass-market product to the portfolio would go against GMA's updated business model.

"We promised we'll never do more than a hundred of anything," said Murray. "That's one of our principles. We might go less, but we won't go more."