
Hispano-Suiza was an originally Spanish and then Spanish-French automotive and engineering firm (actually, from 1923 on, two different companies) best known for their cars, engines (including world famous aviation engines) and weapons designs in the pre-World War II period. Today they are part of the French SAFRAN Group, while the Spanish company in 1946 sold all their automotive assets to Enasa, the maker of Pegaso trucks and sport cars.
In 1898, a Spanish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started with electric automobile production in Barcelona under the name of La Cuadra. In Paris, De la Cuadra met the talented Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt (lived 1878 -1953) and hired him to work for the company in Spain. La Cuadra built their first gas powered engines from Birkigt designs. At some point in 1902, the ownership changed hands to J. Castro and became Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss Car Factory) but this company also went bankrupt in December 1903.
Yet another reformation took place in 1904, creating La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles also under Castro' s direction. Four new engines were introduced in the next year and a half. A 3.8 liter and a 7.4 liter four cylinder engines were produced as well as a pair of big six cylinder powerplants. This version of the company managed to avoid bankruptcy and in Spain remained in operation, as a car, truck and aviation engine producer, with is main plant located in Barcelona, until 1946. They mass-produced cars, trucks and buses and a number of hand-built racing and luxury cars, some of which ended up being owned by King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
However by this point in the early years of the century, France was proving to be a much larger market for their luxury cars than Spain. In 1911 a new factory, known as Hispano France, was set up in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. In 1914, they moved to larger factories at Bois-Colombes and took the name Hispano-Suiza.

roadster door / 2 seats, petrol (gasoline) 4 cylinder straight (inline), 8 valves side valve (flathead, L-block, L-head), 3619 cm3, 47.7 kW, speed, rear wheel drive

2 doors / 2 seats, petrol (gasoline) 4 cylinder straight (inline), 8 valves SOHC (single overhead camshaft), 2714 cm3, , manual 4 speed, rear wheel drive

sedan (saloon) 4 doors / 5 seats, petrol (gasoline) 6 cylinder straight (inline), 12 valves SOHC (single overhead camshaft), 6597 cm3, 100.7 kW, speed, rear wheel drive

sedan (saloon) 4 doors / 5 seats, petrol (gasoline) 12 cylinder V engine, 24 valves OHV (overhead valve, I-head), 9425 cm3, 164.1 kW, manual 4 speed, rear wheel drive

fixed-head coupé door / 2 seats, petrol (gasoline) 12 cylinder V engine, 24 valves OHV (overhead valve, I-head), 9425 cm3, 164.1 kW, manual 3 speed, rear wheel drive

sedan (saloon) 4 doors / 5 seats, petrol (gasoline) 12 cylinder V engine, 24 valves OHV (overhead valve, I-head), 11310 cm3, 186.4 kW, manual 3 speed, rear wheel drive