Whatever happened to... the Spania GTA Spano?

What is it?

Every country needs a native mid-engined supercar, right? Britain has McLaren. America has the Corvette and Hennessey F5. There’s the Audi R8 from Germany. France? Bugatti Chiron. Italy? Take your pick.

Spain’s entry into this illustrious club is the Spania GTA Spano. From Spain. In case that wasn’t clear from the name. It’s Spanish.

The Spanish Spano emerged in 2009, with a mid-mounted Dodge Viper V10 that had, for some reason, been supercharged to develop 780 horsepower. This prototype was toured around various motor shows for a few years, waiting for the financial crisis to die down a little.

It re-appeared in production-ready form at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show alongside all the usual suspects. The production version switched to a twin-turbo version of the Viper’s V10, good for 900 horsepower. Crikey. And you could have a manual gearbox!

Did they actually build any?

Tricky to pin down exactly how many, but there’s certainly a few Spanos out there. Plaques mounted to the dashboards declare each Spano to be one of a limited edition of 99 units, but it’s unclear if 99 have indeed been sold.

As early as 2015, the company overhauled the car with (slightly) less clunky styling, a power boost to 925bhp, and ditched the manual gearbox as most customers appeared to prefer having paddles. And keeping both hands on the wheel. Good call.

Where are they now?

The website contains many motivational quotes and cool-sounding slogans, but little of any substance. It appears Spania is now importing the latest evolution of the Fisker Karma into Spain, and has plans for some sort of electric off-road super-buggy called the Vinco that’ll be sold in sand and snow configuration.