Boutique electric hypercar developer Hispano Suiza announced it would return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this month to showcase two of its latest vehicles. One on display will be its newest model, the Carmen Sagrera, which packs four motors that combine for 1,114 horsepower.

Hispano Suiza is a boutique automaker in Spain with well over a century of experience. Founded in 1904, the brand established a prominent reputation by producing luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks, and weapons throughout the early to mid-1900s.

The brand has been revived in recent years with a keen focus on all-electric hypercars that deliver one-of-a-kind performance. Hispano Suiza’s venture into bespoke BEVs began in 2019 with the debut of the Carmen – a truly unique model of which only 24 examples were assembled, and no two are exactly alike.

As an encore, Hispano Suiza launched the even more exclusive Carmen Boulogne. Only five were built, and one was delivered to a customer in the US in 2023. It currently sits as one of the most expensive BEVs on the planet.

To complete the trifecta, Hispano Suiza teased a third hypercar called the Carmen Sagrera this past February as a driveable nod to its 120-year history in automotive design.

We only caught a glimpse of its massive spoiler at the time but got the full picture in June when the Spanish automaker officially debuted it to the public in Barcelona. Later this month, Hispano Suiza intends to debut the Carmen Sagrera in the UK for the first time during the annual Goodwood Festival of speed.

It is there that it also intends to do a famous hill climb in another one of its all-electric hypercars.

Hispano Suiza to compete (and show off) at Goodwood

According to news from Hispano Suiza today, it will return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and bring along not one but two all-electric hypercars. The first will be the previously mentioned Carmen Sagrera, which will be presented to the media and authorities in the UK for the first time, including The Duke of Richmond, who founded the annual Goodwood event.

The new all-electric hypercar, piloted by former Formula 1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala, will pull out onto the stage of Hispano Suiza’s dedicated stand. The public will be able to see it up close and take advantage of a pre-sale of Hispano Suiza’s new Capsule Collection of branded merchandise.

Those hoping to see the Carmen Sagrera in action as Goodwood may be disappointed, as it will only be on display. However, the automaker shared that it intends to do a hill climb with Carmen Boulogne, which is a nice consolation.

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed will occur July 11-14. If you’re there, be sure to check out the new Carmen Sagrera in person and report back.

Part of my recent trip to Northern Italy with Maserati included a riveting cruise around Lake Maggiore on the all-electric TRIDENTE boat. Designed by Maserati and propelled by Vita Power, this luxury day boat is as swanky as it is fast… and comes with a price tag to match.

Earlier this month, I packed up my passport, some white sneakers, and my sunglasses for a trip to Lake Maggiore in Italy, located about an hour and a half Northwest of Milan, near the border of Switzerland.

That is where I got the chance to test drive Maserati’s latest BEV model, the GranCabrio Folgore. You can check out those driving impressions and review video here, but another aspect of that trip included an up-close look at Maserati’s first all-electric boat, the TRIDENTE.

We got our first official look at the all-electric day boat in Puglia this last April during Maserati’s “Folgore Day,” where it officially debuted the previously mentioned GranCabrio EV. At the time, we learned that the 10.5-meter boat was conceived as a collaboration between Maserati and Vita Power.

The boat was merely on display inside the event center, and we only got some brief specs, but seeing it up close was still a marvel. At the time, we were promised we would soon be able to test drive the GranCabrio Folgore and the TRIDENTE in Italy, and Maserati quickly made good on its word. Check out my video below to see the Maserati TRIDENTE electric boat in action.

Maserati’s first electric boat is stunning… and expensive

After a brief walkthrough with the GranCabrio Folgore, we strolled down the coast of Lake Maggiore to a dock where the all-electric TRIDENTE awaited our arrival. Maserati’s global head of design, Klaus Busse, was there with us, walking us around the boat. Per Busse:

TRIDENTE is a luxury all-electric powerboat that extends Maserati’s electrification  strategy from the road to the water, born from Maserati’s collaboration with marine  technology company Vita Power. Maserati and Vita Power share the same vision on  electrification and both build the vehicles of the future, based on reduced  environmental impact, improved customer experience, advanced technology, high  quality and sophisticated materials. Our creations are both finished to the highest  standards of craftmanship, enhanced by beautiful and functional design, without  sacrificing performance and elegance. Maserati Folgore is the standard bearer of  our full electric production, and we are proud to extend our new course to the sea,  collaborating with a company synonymous with passion, excellence and luxury in  the new electric era.

My first impressions of the vessel are how sleek and manicured it is—a design genuinely worthy of the Maserati logo (which is abundant throughout). The boat features luxury yacht materials from US boatbuilder Hodgdon Yachts and an advanced powertrain from Vita Power, complete with dual electric motors.

Those motors are powered by a 252 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, enabling future owners to cruise for up to 43 miles on a single charge, depending on your speed. Speaking of speed, the TRIDENTE can cruise at 25 knots (~29 mph) and reach a top speed of 40 knots (46 mph).

Vita Power’s technology also enables DC fast charging (where available), allowing the Maserati boat to recharge from 10-90% in under an hour. Other features include room for eight passengers, a rear sundeck, and a lower cabin complete with a bed and sink.

My impression of the TRIDENTE is that it is a well-designed boat with plenty of room for passengers to cruise comfortably. As an all-electric model, the TRIDENTE is both smooth and quiet, especially at low speeds.

However, when you get it out on open water, you’ll want to grab hold of something because its instant acceleration and up to 600 hp cannot be denied. This expands its capabilities as a leisurely day boat into a certified speeder if you need to get somewhere fast—or if you just want to show off.

Speaking of showing off, this all-electric Maserati boat is definitely more of a status symbol than anything, as it starts at 2.5 million euros ($2.86 million). The TRIDENTE is on sale now, but the one I rode on is currently the only one in existence. I’m sure we will see more in the future; however, I’d expect only a select few buyers around the world will buy one.

Until then, check out my experience on the Maserati day boat in the video below.

Tesla’s third instance of its ‘one-time-only’ Full Self-Driving transfer scheme is in full effect now, allowing owners to transfer their purchase of FSD capability to a new vehicle on purchases before August 31.

Tesla is using this as an opportunity to boost demand, rather than doing the right thing by letting owners transfer the still-unreleased software they spent thousands of dollars on.

Tesla has been selling its FSD system for many years now, to the point where many early owners have been through multiple vehicles without the software actually being delivered in its full working state. Tesla has said repeatedly that this software would enable its vehicles to drive themselves with nobody in the car.

Those owners can currently use Tesla’s FSD Beta, now called FSD Supervised, but so far it does not drive itself with no human intervention.

And so, owners who trade in their cars to get a new Tesla have wondered why they have to purchase the same software again if the software was never delivered to the previous vehicle in its full promised state. Particularly since the price of buying FSD now is higher than it was for many of those early owners – though it has gone back down in price recently.

Last year Tesla started allowing FSD transfers – but only for two months, and said it would happen never again. It was seen as a way to stoke demand, rather than an example of Tesla “doing the right thing” and letting owners retain eventual access to the software they paid for but were never delivered.

After the initial period lapsed, Tesla brought back the FSD transfer this year, allowing it for new orders until the end of Q1. That offer was then extended, meaning that this “one-time amnesty” has already been offered either two or three times by now, depending on how you count it (so, this might be the fourth instance – or at least the fourth quarter in which the program has been available for at least part of it).

After multiple instances of this offering, the question was asked on Tesla’s Q1 call whether FSD transfer could be made permanent, and the answer was a flat “No.”

However, at Tesla’s recent shareholder meeting, the question was again asked if owners could have FSD transfer for “one more quarter,” to which Tesla CEO Elon Musk said “okay, one more quarter.”

Tesla starts advertising its “one more quarter” FSD transfer scheme, available thru Aug 31

Now Tesla has implemented the transfer, and has started to push the scheme on social media and through its customer contacts.

It has actually been active since June 24th – 11 days after Musk said it was a “complex” feature for Tesla’s sales organization to activate. But while the system was quietly activated in June, Tesla is now pushing it harder publicly.

Yesterday, on the first day of its new sales quarter, Tesla North America put out a tweet announcing the program:

And Tesla began sending emails to customers today, encouraging them to trade in their Tesla for a new one before August 31:

Interestingly, the program ends on August 31, rather than September 30, which would be the last day of the quarter. Tesla has a tendency to do end-of-quarter delivery pushes, and will often offer incentives near the end, rather than the beginning of a quarter.

However, lately, Tesla’s sales have faltered, even as other EV sellers continue to grow sales rapidly. So, perhaps Tesla thinks that giving itself more time with this incentive active is better than rushing to make up lost time at the end of the quarter, as it has done in the past.

Electrek’s Take

As I’ve said before: we should not have to have this discussion every quarter.

Until FSD is able to follow through on its promise, transfers should be free for anyone who has bought the software.

Any other company that pre-sold software and then refused to deliver it would not be looked kindly upon, particularly if that software was thousands of dollars and many years late, and if customers were required to re-buy it for every piece of hardware they purchase to run it on.

Yes, people can use something that Tesla calls “FSD” right now, and the system is gradually getting better.

But it does not fully drive the car, doesn’t work without intervention, can’t be summoned across country, and can’t be used as a revenue-generating robotaxi (a promise Musk made again at the shareholder meeting).

It’s time to stop stringing owners along. If the problem is difficult, and more difficult than you thought, that’s one thing. But making people buy additional licenses to software you already sold them and did not yet deliver is not acceptable.

The right thing would be to make transfers permanent until level 5 autonomy is delivered. Even “effective permanence” of continually-rolling offers like this are more about stoking demand. Tesla is acting like a rug store that is perpetually going out of business.

But if Tesla won’t do the right thing, maybe the law will finally force them to follow through on the promises they’ve made. There are currently several cases in court relating to Tesla’s FSD false advertising that could have sweeping effects on how Tesla sells this software and what rights its owners might have. Stay tuned for the results of those.

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