Call us suckers for past glories, but something about retro-sculpted electric sports cars has found a permanent home in our hearts, especially when stacked up against the many cookie-cutter-styled supercars that cross our desk day in and day out. Earlier this year, the Hispano Suiza Carmen Boulogne became one of our favorites of the retrolectric hypercar trend, seamlessly bringing together modernized Dick Tracy-era looks with a ferocious 1,100-hp electric powertrain and a cut-weight, track-focused design. Now we see it in action.
When Hispano Suiza rose from near-oblivion and introduced the Carmen at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, the last thing the car had us thinking was that it desperately needed to be tuned for hot laps around the track. Truth be told, it had us so entranced with those juicy glutes, we weren't thinking much at all.
A year later, though, and Hispano Suiza upped its Carmen game with the even more exclusive Boulogne, hosting one of the first in-lieu-of-auto-show digital debuts that have become an all-too-familiar feature of 2020. Inspired by classics of Hispano Suiza motorsport history, the Boulogne gets an extra 95 hp via the four rear motors below its properly meaty upper thighs. It also loses 132 lb (60 kg) and stiffens up at the wishbones for spryer track handling.
The suite of improvements chops a few tenths off the 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time, dropping it down to 2.6 seconds, while a lift of limitations jumps top speed from 155 to 180 mph (250 to 290 km/h). Drivers content to lean back and take things slower can expect to roll to roughly 250 miles (400 km) between charges of the 80-kW lithium battery pack.
It's not the all-out track assault video we were really hoping to see, but the short clip Hispano Suiza released this week does show the Boulogne throwing those birthing hips around with reckless abandon on curvy pavement.
Hispano Suiza reiterated plans to build a mere five Carmen Boulogne models to join 14 standard Carmens. Each Boulogne starts at a cool €1.65 million (approx. US$2 million), and Hispano Suiza's "Unique Tailormade" department will offer customization opportunities befitting of a two-seater in that price range. Deliveries will begin in 2022.
Source: Hispano Suiza