The Hispano Suiza Carmen takes to the streets of Barcelona

The Catalan company uses the streets of Barcelona for the on-the-move debut of its brand-new car, the Hispano Suiza Carmen

The staging of the Hispano Suiza Carmen is a compendium of emotions.

On the one hand, the on-the-move presentation of the model, which aims to revive the historic brand in its hometown, stirs black-and-white memories of those vehicles of the last century conceived by Damián Mateu and the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt.

On the other, it is proof that this luxury electric car has not been reduced to a concept car, as we have seen before in the history of this brand, or of those who have taken on its name, a history of highs and lows, name transfers and lawsuits.

The Hispano Suiza Carmen is a high-end sports car built to dazzle with its presence, and that is exactly what happened on July 30, when the company put the registered unit on the road.

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Along a route that featured key points of interest for the city’s culture and tourism such as the Sagrada Família by Gaudí, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and the Torre Agbar, the clean lines of the Hispano Suiza Carmen in Barcelona blended perfectly with the beauty of a city that exudes design in every one of its neighbourhoods.

Barcelona is the epicentre of Hispano Suiza

The company is from Barcelona, and so are its cars. From the headquarters to the technical centre and the facilities where the new Hispano Suiza Carmen are assembled almost by hand, the brand, whose management is now in the hands of the fourth generation of the Suqué Mateu family, is based in Barcelona.

Likewise, it is the engineering team at QEV Technologies that, in addition to carrying out motorsport activities and academic training for engineers who want to work in racing, also contributes from Barcelona to the construction of the Hispano Suiza Carmen.

More than 1,000 CV on the asphalt of Barcelona

The architecture of the Hispano Suiza Carmen offers a long list of merits.

From the design of the car, built around a monocoque chassis made of carbon fibre that is extremely rigid, the remaining elements come together into a whole in which the electrical system is the other key component.

The two electric motors, each rated at 375 kW, deliver a total power output of 750 kW, equivalent to almost 1,020 CV and are linked to an 80 kWh battery. Range is rated at under 400 km on the NEDC homologation cycle. With a kerb weight of 1,690 kg, this car is estimated to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds.

This car has been conceived to be admired from the outside and enjoyed from the inside, which is why the quality of its cabin exudes luxury, care and passion.

A package whose price will not be within everyone’s reach, partly because of its very limited production. The Hispano Suiza Carmen starts at 1.5 million euros, which may increase depending on the final configuration of each order. Of the 19 units to be sold, the Suqué Mateu family itself will keep one for itself, meaning only 20 examples of a car that is hard to see will be built, and which the pedestrians of Barcelona who crossed paths with it have already been able to admire.