Hispano-Suiza
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| Industry | Automotive/engineering, aviation |
|---|---|
| Fate | Automobiles: defunct Aviation: now part of Safran |
| Founded | June 14, 1904 |
| Founders | Emilio de la Cuadra, Marc Birkigt |
| Products | Automobiles, aviation components |
| Website | www |
Hispano-Suiza (literally: Spanish-Swiss) was a Spanish automotive/engineering company and, after World War II, a French aviation engine and components manufacturer. It is best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines pre-World War II. In 1923, its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the Spanish parent company. In 1946, the Spanish parent company sold all its Spanish automotive assets to Enasa. In 1968, the French arm was taken over by the aerospace company Snecma, now a part of the French SAFRAN Group. Hispano-Suiza designed the first 4-cylinder 16-valve engine and the car considered to have been the first sports car, the Hispano Suiza 45 Cr.
In 1898 a Spanish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started electric automobile production in Barcelona under the name of La Cuadra. In Paris, De la Cuadra met the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt (1878–1953) and hired him to work for the company in Spain. La Cuadra built their first gasoline-powered engines from a Birkigt design. At some point in 1902, the ownership changed hands to J. Castro and became Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss Automobile Factory) but this company went bankrupt in December 1903.
Yet another restructuring took place in 1904, creating La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles, under Castro's direction, also based in Barcelona. Four new engines were introduced in the next year and a half; a 3.8-litre and 7.4-litre four-cylinder and a pair of big six-cylinder engines were produced. This company managed to avoid bankruptcy and its largest operations remained in Barcelona until 1946, where cars, trucks, buses, aero engines and weapons were produced. Other factories in Spain were at Ripoll, Seville, and Guadalajara.
In 1910 Jean Chassagne competed with a Hispano Suiza together with Works drivers Pilleveridier and Zucarelli and in the Coupe des Voiturettes Boulogne and the Catalan Cup Races he gained 2nd and fourth places respectively. France was soon proving to be a larger market for Hispano's luxury cars than Spain. In 1911, an assembly factory called Hispano France began operating in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Production was moved to larger factories at Bois-Colombes, under the name Hispano-Suiza in 1914 and soon became Hispano's main plant for producing the largest, most costly models.
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Wikipedia