Hispano-Suiza may be a car brand you don’t immediately recognize, but in the 1920s and 1930s the Spanish-Swiss company was one of Europe’s leading car manufacturers. Several of its innovations were far ahead of their time. Hispano-Suiza’s vehicles were sought after and exported to markets as far away as Australia. The elegant cars were considered among the world’s most exclusive, and the company offered some of the fastest vehicles on the market. Hispano-Suiza has had its ups and downs, but as recently as at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019, a Hispano-Suiza model appeared, an electric car in the super-luxury class. If you want to see Hispano-Suiza classics, the car museum in Salamanca is an exciting destination.
An artillery officer with a taste for electric cars
In 1898, artillery officer Emilio de la Cuadra started a factory in Barcelona where he wanted to produce electric cars. He had established himself by building power plants in Lleida and brought his experience from that industry into the nascent car industry.
De la Cuadra started out early. Henry Ford didn’t start his car factory in the USA until 1903. He got inspiration for car production from, among other things, his visit to the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889 – by the way, it was at the same exhibition for which the Eiffel Tower was built.
De la Cuadra must have been an enterprising guy with good contacts. After he founded his car factory, he hired Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt.
The company made prototypes of a truck, a bus and a car – all powered by electric motors. The gentlemen, however, had the same problem that modern car manufacturers have long struggled with: battery life made it impossible to cover longer distances.
It’s easy to think that electric cars are a fairly new idea, but much of the technology we think of as modern and “clean” was already part of the car industry’s infancy at the beginning of the 20th century. The automatic transmission was invented in Canada and patented as early as 1923. Spanish car manufacturers were among the leaders when it came to technological innovations in the industry. Among other things, what is considered the world’s very first hybrid car, is Spanish.
Speed and elegance
Pioneering work is not always profitable. In 1903, Hispano-Suiza went bankrupt, but their ideas were good enough to arouse interest among new owners. In 1904, the company changed hands and resumed its car production. And this time around it worked much better.
In 1905, the production of cars started according to Birkigt’s design. The Swiss engineer is considered to have been amongst the century’s most skilled in his industry. The models that rolled out of the Hispano-Suiza factory were now petrol-powered and had a top speed of a staggering 87 km/h – considering the road quality of the time, these were dangerously fast cars.
This was before the time of assembly line production, and Hispano-Suiza produced stately cars with artisanal qualities, with both exterior and interior exquisitely elegant. The cars were by no means attainable for ordinary people, but among the elites they became popular. The Spanish monarch, Alfonso XIII, for example, owned as many as 30 of them and was the car brand’s high patron.
If you had the money, it would take a lot to find a better or faster car. Already in 1913, Hispano-Suiza made a car with a top speed of 121 km/h and the J12 model in production between 1931 and 1938 reached 185 km/h.
Wealthy people all over the world cast their eyes on the Spanish cars. And Hispano-Suiza exported its luxury vehicles to a number of countries. Car manufacturers such as Rolls Royce were also interested in the company, the British car manufacturer has used several of Hispano-Suiza’s patents in its cars, including its braking systems.
The company that thrived in the air as well as on land
Hispano-Suiza was a success and expanded into the cutting-edge technology of the day – the aviation industry. Between 1904 and 1946, the company built more than 50,000 aircraft engines, mainly at its operations in France. During World War I, Hispano-Suiza designed and supplied engines to the Allied forces.
Birkigt, the Swiss engineer, had remained with the company under new owners. It is not without reason the man was nominated as one of the 20th century’s most important engineers. He designed lighter, more powerful engines with significantly longer lifespans than previous models.
Among other things, Birkigt is the man behind the engine of the famous French SPAD XIII aircraft which was flown by one of France’s greatest heroes, Georges Guynemer, who disappeared without a trace after shooting down 54 of the enemy’s aircraft during the First World War.
After World War I, Hispano-Suiza experienced another period of greatness. In the 1920s and 1930s, they built luxury cars with increasingly powerful engines and improved technologies.
Civil war and a new world war
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the Catalan government collectivized Hispano-Suiza and changed production to also include cannons and aircraft engines.
In 1937, the French government took over the part of the company that was located in France and which mainly built aircraft engines. Several of Hispano-Suiza’s engines were therefore used in French fighters during the Second World War.
Hispano-Suiza also developed and manufactured weapons as the level of conflict in Europe increased. One of their 20mm automatic guns, the Hispano-Suiza HS.404, was manufactured in England, and during the Second World War this weapon was found on board most British fighter aircraft.
In 1940, the Spanish operations of Hispano-Suiza merged with a Spanish bank and created what would later become Spain’s first mass producer of cars: SEAT.
The Spanish Civil War led to great financial difficulties for Hispano-Suiza, and in 1946 the faltering company sold its car business. The classic cars are now highly sought after by collectors, but if you love style and quality and have the money to spare, it happens that the occasional original Hispano-Suiza turns up at an auction. In 2012, for example, a 1913 model Type T15 (also called Alfonso XIII) sold for approximately one million US dollars.
Museum and more for car enthusiasts
If you think the price is a bit high, there are opportunities to admire genuine Hispano-Suiza models for much less money. In late 2002, a car museum opened in Salamanca, the Museo de Historia de la Automación de Salamanca. It is a museum for those of us with a more than an average sized interest in cars, but also a favorite center for car enthusiasts and researchers curious to know more.
In addition to approximately 140 cars from various historical periods – several of them models from Hispano-Suiza – the museum has a large collection of newspaper clippings, original brochures, car parts and much more.
The entrance ticket costs 5 euros. Pensioners, students, the unemployed and groups of more than 10 people pay only 3 euros. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 2pm, closes for siesta between 2pm and 5pm (5.30pm in July and August) and is open again until 8pm (8.30pm in July and August).
If you aren’t able to travel to beautiful Salamanca right away, you will find a lot of exciting material about Hispano-Suiza from journalist V. Christian Mantz. He has studied Spanish car history in depth and so far written at least two books on the history of the electric car. You will find them, “Los Pioneros” and “Silenciosos y Limpios”, for sale on his website https://www.prestigeelectriccar.com/en/.
There you can also read about the development of electric cars from 1870 to 1936 and a lot of other car-related material.
Hispano-Suiza has undergone many business, market and ownership changes since its inception. The automaker was all but forgotten for a number of years, but in both 2010 and 2019, ultra-luxurious Hispano-Suiza models appeared at the annual auto show in engineer Birkigt’s hometown of Geneva. Today there is once again an exclusive sports car maker with the name Hispano Suiza. And true to their heritage, the cars look both futuristic, fast and luxurious.
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