Remember Hispano Suiza? No, of course you don’t. The last time this car maker was heard from in terms of factory output it was building Rolls-Royce aircraft components under licence after the Spanish Civil War.
Before that, though, it manufactured opulent cars for a wealthy few Spanish and French customers. There was a bit of a comeback in 2010, and then more silence. But now we have this — the Carmen, named after Carmen Mateu, granddaughter of the founder of Hispano Suiza, and the current president’s mother.
It’s electric (of course) with a two-motor rear-wheel-drive set-up delivering a, frankly, impressive 1005hp (or 750kW) peak power. Technically speaking, the Hispano Suiza Carmen could sprint from standstill to 100km/h in under three seconds. But its headline is its styling. It’s otherworldly in an H.G Wells kind of way; a sort of art deco retro-futuristic amalgamation of curves, but with the heft of a modern hypercar.
It’s gorgeous and, should any ever hit the road (this is a one-off prototype only, built for the recent Geneva motor show) we’ll be watching with interest. Hopefully another decade won’t quietly slip by without any further action.