CAR COMPARISONS: 2022 Hispano Suiza Carmen review

This eccentric Spanish EV hypercar is aiming at the same rarefied bit of the market as the Lotus Evija and Rimac Nevera. Does it stand a chance?

What we love

Impressively solid construction
Guaranteed exclusivity
Feels relaxed at speed

What we don’t

Hugely expensive
Chassis too laid back on track
Oddball design

Remember Hispano-Suiza? Unless you’re well inside your second century, or have a keen interest in the pre-war European auto industry, the answer is almost certainly no. The former Spanish brand built its last car as long ago as 1946. But now it is joining the long list of long-dormant companies to be reborn for the electric era, with a new, unhyphenated Hispano Suiza having launched a 750kW EV supercar.

Actually, to get more specific, that’s what one Hispano Suiza is doing. Because, in one of the deep improbabilities that makes it feel like the top of the car industry is more soap opera than business, there are actually two new Hispano Suizas.

The rival company is, fittingly, based in Switzerland – the name translates to “Spanish-Swiss” – and is working on what it calls the Maguari HS1 ETC, a combustion-engined hypercar using an equally powerful turbocharged-and-supercharged version of Audi’s V10.

While the one that runs on dino-juice will likely offer more visceral thrills, the Spanish Hispano Suiza has won the race to get its car into production. Or at least the stage to allow me to drive a late prototype version of the Carmen on track at the famous Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.

The car has been engineered and built by a company called QEV Technologies, which also runs the Mahindra Formula E team, and is based barely a kilometre from the track. There is a real link between the eras, too – Hispano Suiza’s president, Miguel Suqué Mateu is the great-grandson of Damián Mateu, co-founder of the original company.

Hispano Suiza plans to make no more than 19 of the regular Carmen, each costing €1.5m before taxes, and then five of the turned-up Carmen Boulogne, named after the French seaside resort where Hispano-Suiza scored many of its famous pre-war victories. This has slightly more power – 819kW – plus firmer chassis settings and costs €1.65m. That’s the one I get to drive.

Key details	Hispano Suiza Carmen
Price (MSRP)	€1,500,000 ($AU2,360,500) estimated
Price as tested	€1,650,000 ($AU2,596,700) estimated
Rivals

Many limited run supercars are previewed by either undriveable styling models or lashed-together prototypes held together by duct tape and optimism. But the Carmen feels impressively engineered and well assembled up close.

Most of the structure is carbonfibre – monocoque, subframes and bodywork all made from woven composite – with suspension being aircraft grade alloy double wishbones at each corner. The predictably sizeable 80kWh battery pack sits mostly behind the passenger compartment, although some cells are in a central tunnel behind the seats.

This runs at a zingy 700 Volts and has been designed to handle the massive current flow rates necessary for such headline power outputs. By itself the pack weighs 800kg, a figure that makes the Carmen’s all-up 1690kg kerb weight seem impressively svelte.

The big technical surprise is the fact that, although it has four motors, the Carmen is purely rear-wheel driven, a pair of permanent magnet synchronous AC motors turning each back wheel. While rivals like the Lotus Evija and Rimac Nevera send their effort to each corner, the Carmen’s entire output is dispatched through a pair of what must be the hardest working tyres in showbiz.

Although there is no physical connection across the rear axle, Hispano Suiza is proud of what it describes as being a “virtual differential,” an algorithm that acts quickly and cleverly enough to allow torque vectoring. The company is aiming for a 400km range under Europe’s WLTP testing protocol. The Carmen supports DC fast charging at speeds of up to 80kW, taking the pack from 30 to 80 percent in just 30 minutes. AC charging at rates of up to 11kW is also supported.

Design is very different from the hypercar wings-and-diffuser norm, the Carmen not getting any obvious aero elements. Styling is said to have been inspired by that of the 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6C Dubonnet Xenia, itself not a classical beauty, with a similarly long, tapered rear deck.

The prototype Boulogne’s combination of lacquered naked carbonfibre and bronze coloured trim was also a bit visually challenging, especially given the size of its radiator grille, although actual buyers will be able to specify pretty much any finish they like. And, in the Carmen’s defence, it looks much better in real life than it does in pictures, three dimensions giving it much more visual coherence.

Black-and-bronze continues inside the prototype’s cabin, which is accessed through power opening butterfly doors. These are a cool idea, but the reality is that they don’t open far enough to allow dignified access to the cabin. Yet once inside there is impressive interior space for something so potent and the standard of fit and finish felt impressively high, despite the slightly garish colour scheme.

Hispano Suiza has gone to the considerable trouble of creating bespoke graphics for the digital instruments and central touchscreen, both of which looked impressively crisp and accurately rendered – details that few ultra low production models bother with.

Driving is limited to one stint on track, following by a Hispano-liveried Tesla Model 3. This is being piloted by Luis Pérez-Sala, who raced for two seasons in F1 with Minardi, but he has been told to set a cautious pace, likely to help manage the powertrain temperatures which tend to be the biggest challenge for brawny EVs.

There are still changes to briefly experience the Carmen Boulogne’s full acceleration on the longer straights, these confirming it felt impressively fast, although subjectively some way short of the level of fury that normally comes with such senior power outputs. Objectively it might well be that quick – experience in other mega-fast EVs like the Lotus Evija has proved there is a sensory disconnect between perceived and real speed without engine noise or gears changing. But it’s a different kind of quick.

Although the Hispano Suiza handles the track without complaint, it definitely isn’t the car’s natural environment. A considerable 60 per cent of its static mass sits over the rear axle, and the backside-biased weight distribution is obvious when trying to persuade it to turn into Barcelona’s tighter and slower turns.

The front end has to be carefully shepherded to apexes, and even a fractionally early accelerator application delivers the unmistakable sensation of understeer. Not something you’d normally expect given the combination of the power output and right-wheel drive.

Key details	Hispano Suiza Carmen
Engine	4x 205kW AC motors
Power	819kW
Torque	1150Nm
Drive type	Rear-wheel drive (2x motors per wheel)
Transmission	Twin single-speed reduction, one per rear wheel
Power to weight ratio	484.6kW/t
Weight (kerb)	1690kg

The flip side of the sensible chassis settings was impeccable traction, thanks in part to the invisible intervention of torque vectoring. Hispano Suiza says the finished car will have variable levels of regenerative braking, these selected by paddles behind the steering wheel, but the prototype just had carbon-ceramic friction brakes.

The Carmen definitely isn’t a trackday toy, but driving it at a limited pace did give the chance to experience some qualities rarely evident on a race circuit. It rides impressively well, the pliant suspension dealing with Barcelona’s knobbly kerbs without complaint. It was also quiet and well insulated at what would be a rapid European highway cruising pace. Most EVs are obviously running out of puff by 160km/h, the Hispano Suiza felt like it was getting into its stride.

The biggest question after driving any car like this is who will buy it. The number of potential customers with both the funds and the willingness to put them into an entirely new car from an equally fresh manufacturer is always going to be limited. Especially as hypercar buyers still show a marked preference for the noise and excitement that come from burning hydrocarbons.

Yet with a smaller proposed production run than the Lotus Evija and Pininfarina Battista the Carmen’s route to success could be an easier one – with the first finished car set to be delivered to a U.S. customer before the end of the year. The company says it is already planning future models to follow this one.

Of course, for anybody who is rich and eccentric enough, it may ultimately be possible to own two different, rival Hispano Suizas. That would be a back-to-back comparison I’d love the chance to make.

The post 2022 Hispano Suiza Carmen review appeared first on Drive.

CAR COMPARISONS

Kamis, 30 Desember 2021

2022 Hispano Suiza Carmen review

What we love

What we don’t

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