Although Spain currently does not have a large car brand (we leave out small manufacturers like Spania GTA) in the global automobile scene, we were one of the main countries in the world in this sector. The two most successful brands in Spain by origin and history are Hispano-Suiza and Seat. The first for being the only car brand that was able to stand up to, match and even surpass Rolls Royce for design, quality and exclusivity. The second for being the only living exponent of what our automobile sector was in the XNUMXth century.
However, along the way, a company emerged that made a deep impression on all Spaniards. In 1946 the extinct National Institute of Industry (INI) founded the Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones SA (ENASA). This new company was located in the expropriated facilities of Hispano-Suiza (a brand that disappeared after the end of the Civil War). I say expropriated because the dictatorship that emerged after the war took from Hispano-Suiza the chances of having a future in the automobile sector.
On the ruins and projects of Hispano-Suiza, ENASA created its first truck using the latest design of its predecessor and launched it on the market as his own calling it Pegasus I. With this first truck came Pegaso and the story that we bring you here today. Thanks to the Pegaso I, Spanish industrialization was much more bearable and it served as a spearhead for the brand to become better known as Pegaso than by its own name.
The first genuine Pegaso was the Z-207 Barajas from 1955. This change was the first to come out of the new facilities that the brand had built in Madrid and It had such important innovations for the time as an aluminum V6 engine and an independent front suspension.. However, Pegaso did not sit still and she also got into the bus business by designing the first city bus with an underfloor transverse engine.
However, the least known facet of Pegaso was its foray into the world of street cars. The brand would launch the Pegaso Z-1951 in 102. This sports car was designed by Wifredo Ricart and was fitted with a modern V8 engine (2.500 cc, 2.800 cc or 3.200 cc) with four camshafts, four-wheel independent suspension and a gearbox on the rear axle. This car became a true world reference, however in 1958 after manufacturing only 84 units the Franco regime decided to end the project for the high losses destroying all the data that existed about him.
After this brief foray into street cars, Pegaso decided to dedicate himself fully to what he was best at; the manufacture of trucks and buses. Nevertheless, the company would be acquired in 1991 by the Italian company IVECO, putting an end to 45 years of ENASA and public control of the company. From that year, until 2008, the company resulting from its acquisition would be called IVECO-Pegaso and after this date it would only be called IVECO, leaving Pegaso in the Olympus of the gods.
However, IVECO does not renounce its origins in Spain and taking advantage of the 70th anniversary of the creation of Pegaso, they have commemorated this event with an event in which they have presented a limited edition of 140 units of the 'New Stralis XP'. To do this, they have created two different versions with powers of 510 and 570 hp, in white and blue, and with decorative elements that recall Pegasus and its history. For it These Stralis XP have been decorated inside and out with motifs reminiscent of the symbol of the Spanish Pegaso truck.
To finish with the review of the history of Pegasus, we must remember that After acquiring ENASA, IVECO has made a strong commitment to Spain to manufacture its models. In Madrid it has one of the most important factories in the world of the CNH Industrial Group (a branch dedicated to the manufacture of industrial vehicles of the FCA Group) and the only one in Europe capable of manufacturing this type of heavy vehicles.
For all this, and Despite the convulsive origins of ENASA and Pegaso, we would like to congratulate the winged horse firm for turning 70 in such good shape and for continuing to motorize half the world.
Congratulations Pegasus.
Source - Pegasus is my truck Iveco
