Hispano Suiza

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Hispano Suiza are back!

Words: Ana Montenegro Images: Mikel Prieto

Hispano Suiza, the most coveted brand of the 20th century, returns to the automotive world with two electric hypercars: the Carmen and the Carmen Boulogne.

The iconic Spanish brand resurfaces in the 21st century, maintaining the DNA of its origins: elegance, exclusivity,

sportiness, reliability and avant-garde technology, now teamed with 100% electric propulsion. And just like it happened 100 years ago, the brand seeks the most advanced competition from the base of its innovation: for this reason some of the best Formula E engineers are part of the Hispano Suiza Team.

A century ago, in the 1920s, the most coveted and admired car brand in Europe was called Hispano Suiza and was based in Barcelona. It was really the first Spanish automotive multinational company, since it had factories in Paris, as well as in Barcelona, Ripoll (Gerona), Seville and Guadalajara. In addition to coveted sleek and luxurious ‘touring’ cars, Hispano Suiza made jet engines, buses, trucks and race cars.

Ettore Bugatti had an Hispano Suiza in his private collection and Rolls Royce bought each new model launched by the

Spanish brand to study it thoroughly. Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein and Luis II of Monaco owned Hispano Suiza cars. In 1929 André Citroën travelled to Barcelona to evaluate the possibility of producing a small and economical model for the Spanish market at the Hispano Suiza factory, although that project never materialised.

Hispano Suiza was born from the drive and talent of three twentieth-century entrepreneurs: businessman Francisco Seix, Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt and lawyer and metallurgical entrepreneur Damian Mateu Bisa. The meeting point was a small car company called Emilio La Cuadra, in which the first two worked and the third was an investor. There, in 1904, they founded Hispano Suiza and two years later unveiled the 40HP at the Paris Motorshow.

It was then, when one of the ‘influencers’ of the time, the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, a car enthusiast and a real petrolhead, ordered a car and ended up acquiring an 8% of the company’s capital.

In the roaring 1920s, Hispano Suiza built 1,000 cars a year and employed more than 2,000 people. They won races in Monza, in Boulogne (France), in the Paris-Cannes women’s race and even in Indianapolis. In 1926 they set up a subsidiary under license in Argentina, similar to those already operating on behalf of the brand in Italy or Great Britain.

The convulsed history of the 20th century hit Hispano Suiza really hard, and after the Spanish Civil War, in 1946, they decided to close down the car business after having manufactured more than 12,000 automobiles.

Their factories were sold to the Spanish National Institute of Industry (INI) and served as the basis for creating a public company, ENASA, which manufactured Pegaso trucks, that was later acquired by IVECO. However, the Mateu family maintained ownership of the brand and in 2019 brought it back to life with a project as innovative as the one that helped them succeed a century earlier.

At the Geneva Motor Show that year, the first Hispano Suiza of the 21st century was unveiled, the Carmen, a 100% electric hypercar, delivering 1,019 HP and 1,160 Nm of torque that allow it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in less than 2.6 seconds. Top speed is limited to 250 km / h. Built on a carbon fiber monocoque, it weighs 1,690 kg and is 4.73 m long, 2 m wide and 1.24 m high, with a wheelbase of 2.80 m. The braking system is electronic by wire and is combined with ceramic brakes with sixpiston calipers. The suspension is multilink front and rear and integrates ABS, traction control and electronic stability control (ESP).

The body design is inspired by the Art Deco movement and by the Hispano Suiza Xenia Dubonnet, a gorgeous car from the 1930s, commissioned by André Dubonnet, a French aviation hero, racing driver, athlete and inventor.

The name Carmen originates from Carmen Mateu Quintana (1936-2018), granddaughter of the Hispano Suiza

founder Damian Mateu. Exclusivity, sophistication, high technology and innovation define Hispano Suiza cars in the 21st century as well. Only 19 Hispano Suiza Carmen will be produced, each one completely tailor made to its owner’s tastes. A Hispano Suiza Carmen, allows more than 9,500 different configurations of mirrors, exhausts, wheels, steering wheel, upholstery, floor mats... It takes between nine months and a year to manufacture a single unit.

The events of the 21st century have also affected the new era of Hispano Suiza. The pandemic prevented the physical launch of the second model of the brand, the Carmen Boulogne, at the 2020 Geneva Motor Show: a sportier, lighter, powerful, more expensive and even more exclusive evolution of its sister model Carmen. The Boulogne was undoubtedly due to become one of the stars of the Swiss show, which was cancelled just a few days before opening its doors to the public.

The Boulogne features an improved chassis and powertrain technology. It raises its power to 1,114 HP and speed has been limited to 290 km/ h. The maximum torque is 1,600 Nm, available right from the start.

This two-seater with two doors that open upwards weighs 1,630 kilos, 60 less than the Carmen. To achieve the lightness, carbon fibre has been used in the chassis, for the steering wheel and in the bodywork which, just as in a tailored suit, perfectly adjusts the metal lines on a dark background of this material. Only five units are going to be manufactured and one of them already has an interested buyer in Mexico.

Both models use 700 T-cell lithium-ion polymer batteries, which act as an interior skeleton, from the centre column to the rear. They have a capacity of 80 kWh and their autonomy could reach 400 km. The fast charging capacity is greater than 80 kW, which would allow charging from 30% to 80% in just 30 minutes. The cooling of the batteries is achieved through three front radiators.

The base price of the Carmen Boulogne, which takes its name from the 1921 win in the Georges Boillot Cup, held at the Boulogne-sur-Mer circuit, is 1.65 million Euros, while the Carmen is priced at 1.5 million Euros. Those figures are just the base of what a unit can cost if customisation elements are included.

Hispano Suiza is part of the Peralada Group, a family owned business led by brothers Isabel, Javier and Miguel Suqué Mateu, great-grandchildren of founder Damian Mateu. In addition to Hispano Suiza, the Peralada Group owns wineries, hotels, casinos, distribution companies and the Peralada Castle, home to the Peralada Music Festival, an international event celebrating music and ballet.

The castle was acquired in 1923 by the patriarch of the family. It dates back to the 14th century but has had multiple extensions and reforms since then. The castle serves as headquarters of the business group, houses an important art collection and library and later this year, it will host the first Hispano Suiza Museum Exhibition, according to Sergio Martínez Campos, Hispano Suiza’s CEO: “We want customers and fans of the brand to have a complete Hispano Suiza experience, and in this museum we can show all the legacy that the Mateu family has preserved for more than 100 years,” he explained.

Hispano Suiza production takes place in a boutique factory in Montmeló, next to the F1 and MotoGP circuits and about 100 km from Peralada. Engineers and mechanics from Formula E, work in its production. Motorsport is also a fundamental component of the ‘new‘ HIspano Suiza, just as it was in that of its ancestors a century ago. But the races are different now. Hispano Suiza has a team in the innovative Extreme E Championship. “It is a unique and pioneering competition that is helping us in different areas, not just to gain visibility and brand awareness”, explains Martinez Campos. “In the first race in the Al-Ula desert (Saudi Arabia) last April, our engineers found a cooling solution that could be carried over to the Carmen, for example”.

Hispano Suiza clients can follow the entire manufacturing process of their vehicles virtually or travel to the factory to see it in person. With the limitations of international travel this has not been possible over the past year, but Martínez Campos is confident that it will soon start again.

As well as the direct presence of the brand in the most exclusive car events such as Amelia Island or Le Mans, Hispano Suiza hopes to take part in The Bridge, an exclusive car event, which takes place in the Hamptons (USA) in the autumn. Together with the UK and Mexico, these are the key markets for Hispano Suiza.