Photo: Petter Trebler
Peralada is known, among other things, for its beautiful golf course and its good wines. The beautiful Catalan village has much to offer those who enjoy the good life. This year, the Donkervoort Ambassador Tour had included Peralada on its itinerary. In addition, a red Hispano-Suiza appeared - a legendary car brand that has always belonged to the upper echelon of the car market.
Hispanic-Suiza
«The pleasure of belonging to the unique», it is said in the presentation of Hispano-Suiza. They are absolutely right. Hispano-Suiza has always built cars for the very richest. The history of cars began in Barcelona already before 1900 with the production of large, elegant cars right up until the Second World War. One of the very last models was Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia which was designed in the early 1930s and built in one copy before the war broke out. After the war, the company entered into other Spanish car factories which eventually formed SEAT and Pegaso.
Fast electric car
The red car arrived in a closed car transporter. It's no secret that the designers wanted to recreate the style from the legendary Xenia Dubonnet. Hispano-Suiza's rebirth happened in 2019 when the brand new Carmen was presented at the Geneva exhibition. Like its predecessor from the 1930s, it was silver with fender caps over the rear wheels. The red model that appeared in Peralada is Carmen boulogne with even better performance and small design changes, including without fender caps. The performance is phenomenal because the car is electric (!) with two motors – one on each rear wheel. The red car produces 1114 hp, with a torque of 1150 Nm. 0-100 is covered in less than 2,6 seconds. Without being absolutely sure, I would think this is about the world's fastest electric car. By comparison, the NIO EP9 sports car, which is designated as the fastest electric car, does 0-100 in 2,9 seconds. The battery pack is a separate design by Hispano-Suiza. It is T-shaped and, according to the manufacturer, should be designed in such a way that it should be easy to upgrade to a higher capacity in the future. Today's battery provides 80 kwh. The range is stated to be 400 km.
From Barcelona to Peralada
Before the war, Hispano-Suiza had several factories in Spain and France, while their headquarters were always located in Barcelona. New Hispano-Suiza is also based in Barcelona. Potential customers can test drive the car Circuit of Barcelona-Catalonia. Hispano-Suiza also uses the Peralada Hotel Wine Golf & Spa as a meeting place to showcase its cars to customers. We do not know how many cars and customers are involved. According to a Wikipedia article from 2021, 19 cars of model Carmen had been produced and 5 cars of model Carmen Boulogne were planned to be built. But they probably built a few more today. And the price? 1,9 million euros.
Donkervoort
Donkervoort are hand-built cars with great possibilities for individual adaptations. The car brand was formed in the Netherlands in 1978 by Joop Donkervoort. The first cars were based on the Lotus Seven with Ford engines. Later, the design changed to a more powerful vehicle, although one can sense the contours of the Lotus Seven - and the weight has been largely kept down. Today, Donkervoort uses engines from Audi in collaboration with Abt Sportsline. The engine in the latest models is a 2,5 liter 5-cylinder TFSI engine. The latest model, the F22, which arrived in 2022, produces 500 hp in a car that weighs only 750 kg. The Donkervoort D8 GTO Individual Series produces 435 hp in a car that weighs only 695 kg.
Individually designed
Donkervoort says that they only build cars - and leave it to the customers to decide what the cars should be. In addition to determining the level of equipment, they can choose steering, brakes, wheels, differential, wheels and gearbox. A well-configured car can cover 0-100 in 2,5 seconds, 0-200 in 7,5 seconds and reach a top speed of 290 km/h. The cars are relatively expensive - and with individual adaptations there really is no list price. It will be difficult to get a Donkervoort F22 on the road for less than NOK 3 million.
See
HispanoSuizaCars.com
Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia (Wikipedia)
Donkervoort.com
