Context
After the Spanish Civil War, the situation of the Spanish fleet of trucks was chaotic, most of them date from before 1936. The most powerful and modern models had been requisitioned by the army which, at the end of the war, did not have them. not returned because they had been destroyed or were in a deplorable state. The national fleet of transport vehicles still running consisted of old models from the 1920s and 1930s, trucks mainly coming from foreign aid including the Italian Fiat, OM, S.P.A and Lancia, or the Russian 3HC.
The new state that emerged in Spain after the civil war undertook a policy of autarkic industrialization, partly imposed by international sanctions, the principle of which was the substitution of imported manufactured products by national manufacturing.
After several attempts to create a national industry in this sector, the only company capable of facing the difficult economic situation and external isolation was Hispano-Suiza. Hispano-Suiza manufactured the 66G and 66D models, with gasoline and diesel engines, during the 1940s .
By the decree of February 10, 1940, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the government of General Franco had set the minimum production characteristics of future national manufacturers:
- For small cars with low consumption and low price, four seats and power less than 12 HP, 5,000 units. For passenger cars, five to seven seats and a power of approximately 25 HP, 9,000 units,
- For light trucks of two and a half to three and a half tons, vans and pickup trucks with a power of approximately 25 HP, 15,000 units,
- For heavy trucks, seven tons, with diesel engine from 38 to 50 HP, 1,000 units per year.
- The same quantity of 1,000 units is set for tractors intended for agricultural or military use.
Given these general conditions of the automobile activity, initiatives in this sector had practically no other way than to present a project to the Ministry which, if it met the required production objectives, could obtain its classification in company of “national interest” and also advantages, such as the possibility of obtaining import licenses for equipment and materials to build the factory.
Thus, in the months following the publication of the decree, four potential projects were registered: Ford Motor Ibérica, Daimler-Benz, Fiat Hispania and Hispano-Suiza. Only two of these projects came to fruition and were the subject of negotiations led by senior officials who would be integrated into the INI in 1941: the FIAT project for passenger cars and that of Hispano-Suiza for trucks.
The first negotiation took place in March 1942 with FIAT Italy, to set the conditions for its participation in a passenger car factory. In October 1942, negotiations began for the construction of an industrial vehicle factory with the Swiss manufacturer Saurer and, in December 1942, with the Italian manufacturers Alfa Romeo and Lancia.
At the end of October, the first draft of a contract with Saurer was available, in which their technical collaboration was envisaged to equip a factory with a capacity of 1,200 annual units with a diesel truck model of 5 tons of payload, without specifying the stages of the nationalization of production.
In November 1942, the Ministry approved the project presented by Lancia, to manufacture diesel trucks of the Alfa Romeo brand . The vehicles would be assembled in the Hispano-Suiza workshops in Barcelona, with, initially, a degree of nationalization equivalent to 68.9% of its value with the aim of reaching 100% over the following five years .
The conditions imposed were not very encouraging for businesses, given the limited outlets in the Spanish national market. The only Spanish company able to engage in this production program, the private Catalan company Hispano-Suiza, requested the support of the INI to obtain immediate orders for military trucks.
Hispano Suiza's request was not surprising given the uncertainties associated with the project and the significant financial risks it entailed. The studies carried out by the INI on the problems posed by this industrialization objective confirm this. The weakness of the national industry in terms of raw materials and components required that a public company be involved in the field of heavy goods vehicles.
During the first half of 1943, intense negotiations took place with Hispano-Suiza and Alfa Romeo. The INI places this alliance with the Italian manufacturer at the forefront to the detriment of Saurer. In August 1943, the Presidency of the Government authorized the INI to immediately create a truck factory, but a month later the project was stopped due to fears that the situation of the Italian company would change suddenly with the course that had taken on the war and the political changes occurring in Italy.
With the abandonment of the “Italian” solution, there was an attempt at a “German” solution with Daimler Benz which never really got off the ground. The INI had to admit that the objective of launching the manufacture of trucks for the Spanish army in the short term was unachievable.
The negotiations between INI, Hispano-Suiza and Alfa Romeo made it possible to clarify everyone's positions and, in some way, foreshadowed the final solution obtained three years later.
The INI project had aroused the interest of Alfa Romeo and, in particular, the technical director of its sports car department, the Spaniard Wifredo Ricart. He made a direct proposal to the INI involving the existing industrial site of Hispano-Suiza, while waiting for a new factory to be built. The project did not differ much from the original Alfa Romeo project, except that the main player was the INI. W. Ricart's idea was clever because he proposed the manufacture of a vehicle adapted to the needs of the Spanish market, which corresponded perfectly to the autarkic and nationalist ideas of the INI, while considering that the Spanish engineer had proposed to guarantee its direct collaboration and that of its Italian collaborators, at a time when Spain was cruelly lacking in national engineers and technicians to undertake its industrial programs.
The breakdown of negotiations with Alfa Romeo led to the abandonment of W. Ricart's project, and made the use of Alfa Romeo technological bases impossible. It was on this occasion that the way of conducting negotiations with foreign manufacturers, desired by the INI, proved unviable.
Faced with the project being blocked, the military increased pressure to obtain the vehicles that had been promised to them a decade earlier. A new attempt at negotiation was initiated with Daimler-Benz which remained without follow-up.
After the failure of negotiations with foreign manufacturers, only the Spanish national solution remained. The only Spanish truck manufacturer, Hispano-Suiza, manufactured in small series the 66G model , weighing 7 tonnes, equipped with a gasoline engine. The manufacturer was studying the prototype of the diesel version named “66 D13”.
Wifredo Ricart left Italy and returned to Spain at the end of 1945. He was hired by Juan Antonio Suanzes, then Minister of Industry and Commerce and Director of INI to create the bases of the Spanish automobile industry . He will then relaunch his project to integrate Hispano-Suiza and Alfa Romeo technology , employing more than twenty Milanese engineers to design and manufacture the trucks that the country so badly needs. In March 1946, he developed a “Preliminary project for a factory for heavy industrial vehicles and diesel engines”. In April, the management of the INI submitted to the government the document "Manufacture of utility vehicles and diesel engines", as well as the draft decree and ministerial order approving the constitution of the new company by the INI.
The new company, once its creation was approved by the Council of Ministers by decree of May 1, 1946, was incorporated by notarial deed of October 23, 1946 under the name Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones, SA - ENASA . But before its creation, throughout 1946, tense negotiations took place between INI and Hispano-Suiza, which was forced to accept 25% of ENASA's shares as compensation for the assets in its La Sagrera factory. in Barcelona.
This is how the first truck under the Pegaso brand was born , the Z-203 , also called Pegaso I , which was only the 66G rebadged Pegaso. This truck was equipped with a 6-cylinder gasoline engine with a displacement of 5 liters.
