The Hispano Suiza Carmen Is a 1,006-HP Electric Hypercar – MotorTrend

Show of hands: Who remembers Hispano-Suiza? You concours d’elegance regulars and aviation nuts can, but most are likely unaware of the car company with roots that trace way back to an electric-vehicle startup from 1898. Judging from the competition for rights to the name, you’d think Hispano-Suiza enjoyed the name recognition of Coke, Ferrari, and Apple. Not one, but two completely unrelated firms—one based in Spain and one in Switzerland—were planning to display 1,000-plus-horsepower Hispano-Suiza hypercars at this year’s Geneva show—an electric one from La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles SA, and a gas-powered one from Hispano Suiza Automobilemanufaktur AG. But on the eve of the show it appears that the gas-powered Swiss one has pulled out.

First an abbreviated history of the brand. Spanish artillery captain Emilio de la Cuadra started making electric cars in Barcelona called La Cuadra. Soon after he met Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt, who designed gasoline-powered engines for the brand. By 1902 ownership transferred to José María Castro Fernández who rebranded as the firm as Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss Automobile Factory). That concern went Tango-Uniform, only to be reconstituted in 1904 with a big cash infusion from Damián Mateu as La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles. It’s that finance guy’s great-grandson Miguel Suqué Mateu who’s looking to revive the name with the electric Hispano Suiza. He wants you to remember the fabulous luxury cars built in both Spain and France between 1905 and 1946 that rivaled Rolls-Royce for refinement, power, and technical sophistication—Rolls-Royce even licensed Hispano-Suiza’s patent for power brakes. And in another Rolls connection, the French arm of Hispano-Suiza, which was sold off as an airplane engine and power-transmission company and built Rolls engines under license for a while, in 2014 entered a joint-venture with Rolls-Royce in 2014 to provide transmissions for subsequent Rolls aero engines.

Fast-forward to the 2010 Geneva show, where a radically re-bodied Audi R8 turned up on the Delmar 04 SA stand wearing Hispano Suiza badges. This raised the hackles of both the French aerospace concern, and the surviving holders of the Spanish rights to the name, with legal action threatened. Since then the lawyers have been busy—as is detailed pretty well in this Autocar story—which concluded “All active trademarks related to Hispano Suiza that La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles SA holds are not for cars, but solely for other businesses. The ones related to cars are all pending, mostly due to opposition on the trademark registration,” whereas the Swiss firm seems to have trademarks for several European countries—not including Switzerland.

Oh well, here’s what we know about the Hispano Suiza (no hyphen) Carmen that IS showing up at Geneva: It’s named for Damián Mateu’s granddaughter/Miguel Suqué Mateu’s mother. It’s fully electric, with a T-shaped 80-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion polymer battery pack powering a pair of rear-mounted motors rated at 503 hp each for 1,006 total. The battery is encased in a carbon-fiber shell designed to make upgrading the battery to newer chemistries and technologies easy. It is also suspended in such a way as to serve as a tuned mass damper, helping to eliminate vibration.

Top speed is limited to 155 mph and range on the Euro NEDC cycle is estimated at just under 250 miles. DC fast charging at a 50+ kW rate will bring the batteries from 30-80 percent in 30 minutes. Suspension is by control arms all around with lateral links assisting in back, and AP RADI-cal six-piston brake calipers clamping 15-inch carbon-ceramic rotors at all four corners. The design and development—undertaken in a brief nine-month period—has been done in conjunction with QEV Technologies, the electric powertrain and motorsport engineering specialists behind Mahindra’s Formula E race car.



Ad Time Remaining:

Up Next

CANCEL

NEXT UP SORT BY

Recent
Trending

Behind the Wheel: The 2019 Mercedes-AMG G63, the Ultimate Muscle Truck

8 Reasons Why the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison Is Awesome Off-Road

7 Reasons Why the 2020 Porsche 911 Is a Fully Modern Machine

Behind the Wheel: Driving the New 3 Series, the Soul of BMW

9 Reasons Why the BAC Mono Is the Most Extreme Road Car Ever

Driving Ram’s Hot Half-Ton Off-Road Truck, the Rebel

Behind the Wheel: The 2019 Honda Passport

7 Reasons Why: This ’55 Chevy 210 Is a Two-time HOT ROD Cover Car

Walk the Shop: How Bisimoto Engineers Its Dream Cars

9 Reasons Why the Honda Passport Is Adventure-Ready

Jonny Lieberman Drives the New 8-Series—the Ultimate BMW Coupe

9 Reasons Why You Need a Jeep Gladiator

Behind the Wheel: Driving BMW’s All-New Z4 Roadster

7 Reasons Why the McLaren 570S Spider Is the Best 570S

Rare Metals: The Mooneyes Christmas Show