For 28 years, the Hurtado family has been designing and producing its cars by hand in Santa Fe , just 13 km from Granada.
Juan Hurtado, from Almería, settled in Granada in the 1970s, after working in Barcelona for bodywork companies. He did it with a car repair shop specializing in bodywork. It was the germ of what Hurtan is today, which was born as the creator of its own cars some 20 years later. A natural consequence of Hurtado’s passion for the cars of the 50’s and the design of his own sketches.
It was in 1992 when, in the heat of the good reception of one of his prototypes, he began the development of his first car in a completely handmade way : a convertible ofaspect similar to the English Morgan under which the chassis of a Renault 4 was located. Disassembled the body of this and treated, in addition to modified elements such as suspensions and brakes, the Hurtan T fiberglass body was installed on it . The set was powered by a 1.1 engine of Clio origin that reached up to 60 hp.
Although, in reality, the model with which Hurtan’s commercial journey would begin was with the two-seater T2 convertible , already with a 100 hp 1.4 engine, which would later evolve into the T2+2, as its name indicates, with four seats.
These Hurtan T would remain on sale until 2002, being replaced by the Albaycin, an evolution of those, already based on the Renault Clio platform. and Jaguar XK120 air , with two or four seats, and various engines available: from 60 to 172 CV.
As was happening with the T2, each Albaycin was made at the whim of its buyer, so it was impossible to find two units that were exactly the same : one of the reasons for the craftsmanship of Hurtan.
The other was to ensure that this exclusive product, with an evocative retro aesthetic, had affordable prices for customers of medium or medium-high purchasing power, not exclusively rich. And the first of the Grand Albaycins also fit into that: this roadster with 110 and 182 hp engines was sold with a price from just over 50,000 euros.
Convertible or Targa, from 59,000 euros
The Grand Albaycin, whose pre-sale phase is now beginning and which is lined up in the range along with the Author developed from the base of the Chrysler PT Cruiser with convertible and closed bodies, starts with a price of 59,000 euros
. The new Grand Albaycin, which differs in some details in its body from the first, is available with two bodies: as cabrio or targa . The latter is identified by an arch behind the seats of the two occupants.
It is also available with two styles: Heritage, with a classic cut; and Bespoke, with a more sporty air.However, it is always within the reach of each client to participate in the definition, hand in hand with the artisans of Hurtan, leather, wood, etc. that will shape your car.
This team is currently made up of eleven workers, including Juan Hurtado’s three children who take care of his work, Rosa, Francisco and Juan Ignacio ; and that they find customers for their exclusive cars, especially among foreigners. They are “Germans, French, Belgians, Russians… many with residence in Spain and who live, for example, in the Marbella area. Clients who order them from us so that we can build them to their liking” tells us Juan Ignacio Hurtado, the person in charge of the commercial task.
The composite bodywork, the material that has shaped the dreams of the Hurtan wizards for three years, together with carbon fiber details,It does not radically change the front compared to the original Grand Albaycin, but this model now no longer uses a Renault platform: it is made from that of a Mazda MX-5.
With the structure of a Mazda MX-5,
Hurtan buys these new cars directly from dealers and, once in their hands, disassembles them piece by piece, just as they used to do with the Renault Clios that served as their base. Thus they manage to have the particularly light and rigid chassis of an icon like the MX-5 , in which the two subframes -the front one that supports the suspensions and the engine, and the rear one, to the differential and suspensions- are joined by a beam that is assembled in the structure of the gearbox.
In this way, the requirement of having a formidable set of motor-transmissions is covered in a very simple way : they are just like the original Mazda ones, something that, on the other hand, makes it much easier, Juan Ignacio Hurtado tells us, “the possibility of attending to these mechanics practically in any workshop” . Those who animate the new Grand Albaycin are, on the one hand, a 132 hp 1.5 and, on the other, a 184 hp 2.0 . Both four-cylinder and gasoline, the first is associated with a six-speed manual gearbox and the second with an automatic. These transmissions transfer the thrust of the engines to the rear wheels.
In this way, the Grand AlbaycinIt is not only equipped to be a magnet for looks with that “neoclassical” air , as Juan Ignacio Hurtado defines it, but it has the arguments to be a practical and very dynamic car . An exclusive jewel, of which it is planned that only 30 units will be made , which is thus born from the artisan work at the foot of the city of the Alhambra and the Albaicin neighborhood from which it takes its name.
For every need, a vehicle
In addition to the Author, a car focused on the wedding sector; and the new Grand Albaycin, Hurtan’s offer today also reaches other artisanal transformations that have a very commercial approach. This is the case of the Vintage, an SUV built from the four-door Jeep Wrangler, and of which several units have been created by express order of a Madrid company, Vingate City Tour, for tourist routes and VTC around Madrid.
Also of the other product today in Hurtan’s portfolio, the Route 44, a van with an air of the 50s, is intended for use as a foodtruck, given its enormous space possibilities -it is built on the basis of a Fiat Ducato- and capacity load. In any case, each client can choose how they want Hurtan to build their car according to their needs, because with Atelier they have the tool to make coach-built vehicles exclusively.
In the portfolio awaits another project by Hurtan, who is already actively working with the Navarre firm Jofemar, specialized in the electrification of vehicles, in the Velantur, a four-meter car that is currently in the prototype phase and that, soon, could be for sale.
