International concerns actively use Spain as a site for producing their cars. Moreover, it is believed that Italians laid the foundations of automobile production in this country in 1919, when FIAT opened its branch near Barcelona. Despite this, Spain has enough of its own car and truck models. Domestic companies such as Advanced Design Tramontana, Sociedad Española de Automobiles de Turismo, and others are widely represented on the world market and make a worthy competition to foreign brands.
What are Spanish automobile brands?
Many brands fall into this category, including SEAT, Irizar, Tauro Sport Auto, Spania GTA, Tramontana, Aspid, Benimar, Hurtan, and Cupra. Also gone are the car companies that manufactured cars in Spain, such as Pegaso, Hispano-Suiza, and Abadal.
Spanish cars, Seat and Tramontana, are famous worldwide. Other equally recognizable brands are also produced in Spain.
SEAT
SEAT is a Spanish company that is a part of the German automobile concern Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. Its name is an abbreviation of Sociedad Española de Automobiles de Turismo. The first car of this brand appeared in 1953, and the two-millionth car in 1974. During this period, many racers in Spain moved to SEAT sports cars.
The company’s first owner was Fiat, but he refused to cooperate and, by his inaction, forced the automaker to sign a contract with Volkswagen. The German group of companies bought all the shares of SEAT in 1990.
Irizar
The bus direction in the Spanish automobile industry is represented by the company Irizar, named after its creator, Jose Francisco Irizar. He worked as a blacksmith but wanted to engage in passenger transportation, so he opened a business producing stagecoaches and carriages in 1889. After 37 years, the business passed to Jose’s sons. They began to produce buses and agricultural machinery.
Since the 1950s, the company has constantly produced new bus models. It reached the point of partnering with Carrozzeria Orlandi to achieve technological excellence. Currently, the Irizar lineup includes conventional, electric, hybrid, and integrated buses of various models.
Tauro Sport Auto
The Tauro Sport Autosports car brand entered the market in 2012 with the V8 Spider model. At the same time, it appeared two years earlier: its origins date back to 2010, when a group of Spanish entrepreneurs decided to team up with a British racing car manufacturer. All the company’s cars are made to order, so the series’ volume is limited. Most of the work is done by hand.
Tauro Sport Auto’s headquarters are located in Valladolid. One of its founders, Pedro J Santos, currently heads the company. The main line of sports cars is called Tauro V8. This model is equipped with a Chevrolet LS3 V8 engine.
Spania GTA
Spania GTA designs and manufactures sports cars. It was founded by the Spanish racing team GTA Motor Competición and is now legally owned by that team. Domingo Ochoa is the head and immediate founder of the company. The company’s key product is the GTA Spano model car. The first concept car of this series was presented to the public in 2010, and full-scale production began in 2013. Only 99 cars will be produced in the debut Spania GTA lineup.
Tramontana
The Tramontana brand belongs to the Spanish company Atelier Tramontana. The manufacturer is Advanced Design Tramontana, a private company founded in 1995. It was founded by Josep Rubau, who previously worked at Volkswagen. He decided to revive traditional car brands of the last century, so the Tramontana sports car has a 1930s design. The model is suitable for race tracks and public roads, but is often collectible due to its limited-edition status (12 pieces per year). Gold is used to finish the car.
Aspid
The Aspid series is a proprietary product of IFR Automotive. The company was founded by engineer Ignacio Fernandez in 2003 to create cars that combine the best qualities of racing and road transportation. The first model, the IFR Aspid, went on sale in 2009. IFR Automotive had another sports car, the GT-21 Invictus. Its debut was expected in 2013, but the project was closed before it could begin.
Benimar
Benimar is a well-known mobile home manufacturer founded in 1974. Its name consists of the letters Beni, the first letters of the name of the coastal city of Benicarló (Benicarló), where the company was founded, and Mar, Spanish for “sea.” In 1978, the debut motorhome hit the market as the undisputed leader in its segment. From 1984 to 2002, the company operated under the name Ocarsa until the Trigano Group acquired it.
Hurtan
Juan Hurtado Gonzalez wanted to create the car of his dreams, a retro sports car. He realized this idea in the 1980s and, inspired by its success, opened his automobile production facility. Thus was born the company Hurtan Desarrollos SL, which introduced its first model, the Albaycín T2, in 1992. The family business is now based in Granada. It produces sports and electric cars with classic bodies. The founder’s son does not change tradition and continues to develop ultra-modern cars in the style of the 1950s.
Cupra
The original name of this brand is SEAT Sport. It was founded in Abrera (Catalonia) in 1985 as a sports division of the Spanish automaker SEAT, part of the Volkswagen Group. The company’s main specialization was producing competitive models for rally and other forms of racing. It won several FIA awards: three wins with the SEAT Ibiza Kit-Car in the World Rally Championship (three consecutive years from 1996 to 1998 inclusive), two awards with the SEAT León in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (in 2008 and 2009). In 2018, the parent company renamed the brand Cupra and made it independent.
Hispano-Suiza
The Hispano-Suiza car company was founded in 1904 by two Spanish entrepreneurs and one Swiss engineer, hence the choice of name (Hispano-Suiza means “Spanish-Swiss”). The company produced luxury cars until the war. Then it switched to producing aircraft engines, and in 1919 it returned to its original course.
In 1944, Hispano-Suiza became part of the ENASA group and focused on the aerospace industry. It has twice tried to return to the automobile market: in 2010 and 2019. New models were introduced both times, but production only started on the second attempt. So the company can be considered to have been revived in 2019.
Pegaso
The Pegaso automaker left the market in 1994 when Iveco acquired it. Before that, it was part of Enasa and produced sports cars, armored cars, tractors, omnibuses, and trucks. The company was founded in 1946. Its main industrial site was the old Hispano-Suiza plant. In the second half of the 20th century, it kept pace with the economic boom, producing many buses and trucks. After the takeover of Pegaso, Iveco continued to use the brand for several years.
Abadal
Racecar driver Francisco Abadal founded the Abadal company in 1912 to produce the fastest luxury car. Shortly after opening, Buick bought the company out. In 1923, the Abadal brand withdrew from the market and ceased production. General Motors had plans to revive it: in 1930, there was even a prototype of the Abadal Continental, but it was never produced.