Remember Hispano Suiza? Of course, you don’t. Not unless you are a fan of extremely old Spanish motor manufacturers or happen to attend pre-war classic car Concours events. The name may be mostly unknown today but this company once shared the spotlight with the biggest names in the automotive world, producing some of the finest luxury vehicles money could buy like the 1931 9.5-liter J12 luxury tourer.
With the outbreak of WWII, it shifted focus to aircraft engines and totally ended all car production. However, after an absence of 80 years, a return to the motoring scene is planned with an all-electric supercar. Details are scarce and other than the confirmation of its electric powerplant and a single image that looks to mimic its pre-war designs, we will have to wait for the full reveal which will take place at next year’s 2019 Geneva Motor Show.
Hispano Suiza has a bit of history with electric vehicles says Miguel Suqué Mateu, great-grandson of the original founder and the current company president. "Back in 1900, when Hispano Suiza started, it built the first electric car in the world, but the prototype was never industrially manufactured," he said in the new model's teaser.
"Now, 119 years later, in March 2019, Hispano Suiza has its first 100% electric car, offering great performance and manufactured in Barcelona, the realization of my great grandfather's dream."
More recently, in 2010 Hispano Suiza revealed a carbon fiber bodied hybrid supercar based on an Audi R8. This car combined the existing 5.2-liter V10 engine, boosted by a pair of superchargers to produce 592 horsepower with an electric motor that offered a combined 740 hp and a 200mph+ top speed.
This vehicle never made it into production as far as we are aware, but the upcoming all-electric supercar is intended to become a proper production model, let’s hope that this time the Hispano name is back for good.
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