Hispano Suiza Performance Elegance Unveiled at The Amelia

by Bernard Martin

The Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne revealed at the 2022 The Amelia

It was fitting that a 1926 Hispano-Suiza H6B Convertible won Best in Show at the 2021 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance to be followed in 2022 with the North American brand re-introduction of this iconic marque at the freshly rebranded "The Amelia". Honor the old, in with the new. 

Similar to The Amelia event, now owned by Hagerty, many of the design cues of the new Hispano-Suiza brand hearken back to the well founded design of a previous era. More on that later.

I had to opportunity to sit down with Sergio Campos, CEO of Hispano Suiza, and talk about the Hispano-Suiza Carmen, their new 100% electric “Hypercar”, and specifically about the just unveiled Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne, of which a total of 24 exclusive and limited units will be produced.

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The ​Hispano -Suiza 
​Mateu-Birkigt Collaboration

​Hispano-Suiza, Spanish for 'Spanish-Swiss', was founded in 1904 as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. Spaniard Don Damián Mateu, the financier who originally founded Hispano-Suiza with Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt gives the company its name.

In 1923, its French luxury car arm became a semi-autonomous partnership with the Spanish parent company. In 1946, the Spanish parent company sold all of its Spanish automotive assets to Enasa, a Spanish state-owned vehicle manufacturer, and the French arm continued as an independent aviation engine and components manufacturer under the Hispano-Suiza name.

In 1968, Hispano-Suiza was taken over by the aerospace company Snecma, which is now part of the French Safran Group. Hispano Suiza Cars associated with the Peralada Group, owned by the Suqué Mateu family, descendants of one of Hispano-Suiza's original founders, Damián Mateu, relaunched the brand in 2019.

Since its foundation, four generations of the Suqué Mateu family have preserved the brand, providing impetus and dynamism to maintain its significant heritage. The current Chairman of the Hispano Suiza, Miguel Suqué Mateu, is the great-grandson of the brand's founder.

The first unveiling of the new Hispano-Suiza marque occurred at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show with the debut of the Hispano-Suiza Carmen, an all-electric sports car. The car's  design of the all electric Hispano-Suiza  was influenced by the 1938 Jacques Saoutchik which designed the "streamline moderne" Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia, which, coincidentally, won Best in Show at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in 2001.

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The Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne is PerformaNce Elegance

The first owner of the very unique Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne, unveiled at The Amelia, in the United States is Michael Fux. The vehicle is fully electric and develops 1,114 hp thanks to the four electric engines it houses on its rear wheels. The car was built in collaboration with QEV Technologies, which is Mahindra Formula E-Racing’s technology development arm. So it's literally got Formula E race car underpinnings.

This unique Hispano Suiza has been painted in “Ocean Song Rose”: a purple tone inspired by the owner's favorite flower, the Ocean Song rose, which he himself sent from Miami to the brand's Design department, so that they could reproduce the same hue on the bodywork of his car. This colour has been created exclusively for their client. All the panels that shape its bodywork are in carbon fiber with a layer of Alutex. This finish is combined with “Birkigt White” color design details that complete its livery.

The distinctive grille with the Hispano Suiza logo is finished in a contrasting high-gloss black. The polished aluminum alloy wheels stand out even more thanks to the accents and the monoblock nuts painted in the same color as the bodywork.

The interior, covered entirely in high-quality Birkigt White leather, contrasts perfectly with the purple tones of the bodywork. The name of the model, Boulogne, is embroidered on the headrests.

Miguel Mateu, Hispano Suiza´s Chairman, stated: “We are very proud to deliver this unique version of the Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne to our first client in the United States, and doing so on the occasion of The Amelia allows us to show the world, and especially the American market, what Hispano Suiza can achieve."

​Sergio Campos, CEO of Hispano Suiza, who personally delivered the car to Mr Fux, added: “I would like to thank the whole Hispano Suiza Team and especially our Design team who have done done an excellent job to enable Mr. Fux to drive the car of his dreams”.

Very sorry for the sound quality of our interview with Sergio Campos, CEO of Hispano Suiza. It seems that our microphones where not working correctly and we did our best to clean it up.