The prototype Boulogne's combination of bronze detailing and lacquered carbon fiber also had us thinking of an expensive handbag. The size and prominence of the front grille also seems incongruous for an EV, although there are sizable radiators behind it to cool the motors and battery pack. The Carmen lacks the visual brawn and presence of other hyper-EVs like the Pininfarina Battista and Rimac Nevera.
The result is both distinctive and, based on our straw polling, divisive. Both old and new have a long and heavily fared rear end. The design is inspired by that of the sole surviving Hispano-Suiza H6C Dubonnet Xenia, a car that lives in the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California. Two versions will be offered: the regular Carmen, producing a peak output of 1005 horsepower, and the turned-up Carmen Boulogne, named after the location for several of Hispano-Suiza's most famous racing victories, making 1100 horsepower. Two motors work on each wheel through a single-speed gear. Power comes from a proprietary 80-kWh, 700-volt battery pack that sends electrons to four AC motors at the rear axle. Its monocoque and bodywork are carbon fiber, as are the subframes, to which the aluminum control-arm suspension at each corner is mounted.
There is no large automaker or technology partnership behind the Carmen, but it appears meticulously well engineered up close.
The new car is being built by a motorsport specialist called QEV Technologies, which runs the Mahindra Formula E cars and is based less than a mile from the famous Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But it is hard to argue against the credentials of the Spanish company, whose president, Miguel Suqué Mateu is the great-grandson of Hispano-Suiza's original founder. We've now driven the Carmen, but we don't want to pick sides until we've experienced both cars-we're suckers for a ludicrously powerful gasoline engine.
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