This is the second car the Grup Peralada presents, but who will sell a Hispano Suiza first?
Operas involve a lot of drama, but Carmen is probably among the most dramatic. An EV named Carmen could not have a different fate. Its ups and lows did not start with the canceling of the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, where the Grup Peralada would present a stronger version of the electric hypercar called Boulogne. It started right when the car was born in a move to ensure the Grup Peralada could have the Hispano Suiza brand. So far, it has still not completed this task, which will provide more drama in the following years.
Gallery: HispanoSuiza Carmen Moves Around Barcelona
20 Photos Autocar says the Carmen Boulogne will not only be more powerful, as the Grup Peralada confirms. According to the British magazine, it will also be a roadster. Without the Geneva Motor Show stage, we wonder when we will be able to confirm that. What we can say is something Autocar has published, and MotorChase continued to develop about the fight for the Hispano Suiza brand. Even we talked about it when the car crossed Barcelona’s streets. The Grup Peralada – which belongs to the Mateu family, from one of the founders – does not have valid trademarks for the company. Some belong to the Safran Group and are not related to vehicles. Some others belong to Erwin Himmel, a former VW head of design that created a new logo and tried to sell a modified Audi R8 as the first vehicle for the new Hispano Suiza. It is called Maguari HS1 GTC. Himmel had an affair with a Spanish businesswoman called Maria Pou Portús. She has some trademarks for Hispano Suiza in some countries, and, when they broke up, she started to battle for the brand as well. The last person involved is Gonzalo Ramírez, a talented designer Himmel hired for his Hispano Suiza project that later left the company. Currently, the design director at Dongfeng and working in Germany, he also claims to be the rightful owner of the historic Spanish brand and is now in courts trying to have it. There are many more details you can learn in the original articles. To sum this whole story up, the attorneys Simon Clark and Jake Palmer, from Bristows LLP, said anyone who manages to sell a vehicle first would be in a better position in any lawsuit. That happens because you cannot trademark something and let it die. It has to sell products, have clients, and plans to prove it is indeed being used. None of the four parties competing for Hispano Suiza has sold any car so far. Not even in the countries where they have the brand properly trademarked. Himmel’s Hispano Suiza Maguari HS1 GTC would be the easiest to homologate and sell. That would happen by the end of 2019, but we have not heard from the company anymore. We have tried to contact him but got no reply so far. The former VW design head does not believe in electric vehicles, as he told MotorChase. “In half an hour, the battery is empty. That is not suitable for a supercar. I also wanted to make a hybrid, but clients did not want it. You have a very small number of clients that want something exotic. It is a big discussion in the world. Electrics are not the final solution.” The Grup Peralada does, but both Himmel and Ramírez said it could not be homologated as it currently is. The Carmen would have 19 units produced, starting in 2019 and ending in 2021. None was sold, as far as we know. When will any be? That can be the difference between bringing the brand back to the Mateu family, leaving it to Himmel, or seeing it live only on the cars the original company produced until the 1930s. Forgive us for the spoilers, but Georges Bizet’s Carmen dies. We hope the electric hypercar to have a happier end. Source: Read Full Article
