SUPERCAR
SUPERMARKET
MUST SELL — MAKE
OFFER, PRODUCED
IN: YOURS OR MINE? A mid-engined, two-seat supercar, the H.S.
21 looks remarkably like VW's Bugatti
Veyron and Chiron concepts. It was
designed by 33-year-old Francisco
Villafanez, and the prototype is beautifully
done, with a glass roof extending from the
windshield to the engine cover, and doors
that swing forward and outward like the
wings of the stork that was the classic
Hispano-Suiza emblem.
So if Bugatti can make a comeback, why
not Hispano-Suiza, one of the grandest
marques of the pre-World War II era? The
company has a complicated history in cars
and aircraft, involving, as its name
suggests, Spain and Switzerland. So the
2000 Geneva auto show was an
appropriate place for Spanish engineering
consultant and prototype manufacturer
Mazel to present a proposal for the
marque's revival. The H.S. 21 is designed for a 5.0-liter
turbocharged V-10 engine and a sequential
six-speed gearbox, but the show car had
no drivetrain. Mazel hopes to interest
investors in reestablishing Hispano-Suiza
as a car manufacturer. What would it cost?
Cars such as this typically crowd the
quarter-million-dollar frontier. But ask us
again when the car has (a) a real
powertrain and (b) stronger prospects for
production.