Carmen set to wow at Geneva
The Geneva Motor Show will see the world debut of a new fully-electric hyperlux grand tourer from a forgotten Spanish manufacturer, writes Damien O’carroll.
Depending on how much of a car nerd you are, you may never have heard of Hispano-suiza, so you may not care that the relatively obscure Spanish car maker is making a comeback.
But if you are aware of some of the gorgeous cars that the luxury manufacturer produced in its heyday, then you may well be excited to hear that next month’s Geneva Motor Show will see the world debut of the Hispano-suiza Carmen – a fullyelectric ‘‘hyperlux’’ grand tourer that takes its design inspiration from the company’s past.
Hispano-suiza was founded in Barcelona in 1904 by Spanish businessmen Damian Mateu and Francisco Seix Zaya, and Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt, and between 1904 and 1946 the company built more than 12,000 luxury and performance cars and 50,000 aeroplane engines.
Since then it has had a somewhat messy existence, with various divisions of the original company being nationalised, split up, sold off and merged, but essentially it became an aerospace company that is now a part of the French Safran Group.
Although it largely disappeared from the automotive world after the war, the Suque Mateu family managed to keep control of the name, with four generations of the family having run it.
On taking control of the company, Miguel Mateu – the son of the founder – continued the production of prestigious, top-of-the-range cars but after his death, his daughter Carmen Mateu took over and, according to the company, kept the ‘‘essence of the brand’’ alive through a range of activities including events, exhibitions, conferences, book and magazine publication, research articles, and participation in rallies. Without making any actual cars.
Today, Hispano Suiza is run by Miguel Suque Mateu, the great grandson of Hispanosuiza’s founder, and the new car is named after his mother.
According to the company, the Carmen is ‘‘the ultimate expression of classicallyinspired design, next-generation technology, exhilarating power and expertly-engineered dynamics’’ and its styling takes inspiration from the stunning Dubonnet Xenia built by the company in 1938.
Designed, developed and manufactured in Barcelona, the handcrafted Carmen is based on a super-stiff, hand-laid carbon fibre monocoque and packs a custom-designed electric powertrain developed by the company’s production partner, QEV Technologies.
QEV Technologies has its foundations in motorsport with Campos Racing and is also the technology arm of Mahindra Formula-e Racing, plus the European R&D facility for Chinese firm BAIC.
This isn’t Hispano-suiza’s first go at a comeback, however – in 2000 it built a prototype luxury two-seat supercar – the HS21 – that was shown in Geneva, as well as the K8 and GTS – evolutions of the HS21 – were shown in 2001 and 2002.
Nothing actually made production, but if the Carmen actually looks anything like the Dubonnet Xenia, then we hope it becomes a reality this time around.