Marc Birkigt

Marc Birkigt ( born March 8, 1878 in Geneva, † 15 March 1953 Versoix ) was a Swiss engineer. He was known by founding the company Hispano -Suiza. Birkigt was the son of the German Ernst Ludwig Birkigt and Louise Annen.

Birkigt lost his parents early and was brought up by his grandmother. In 1898 he was naturalized in Geneva. He received his diploma at the Ecole de mécanique in Geneva. When his grandmother died, gave him nothing in Switzerland, and in 1899 he went to Barcelona, where he first designed an electric bus for the truck manufacturer La Cuadra. There he began the construction of an internal combustion engine, eventually developed a completely new car models, for which he designed chassis, engine and transmission. Nevertheless, this company went bankrupt, after which he moved back to Geneva. There he married on November 23, 1901 Eugénie Mary Brachet, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

The main creditor of La Cuadra, the banker Juan Castro, Birkigt asked in November 1902 to come back to Spain to establish a Spanish automobile manufacturing. The company named J. Castro Hispano-Suiza Fabrica de automoviles was founded. Birkigt developed the propeller shaft and put it into its vehicles. However, Juan Castro went in the spring of 1904, even in bankruptcy.

Then jumped a Damian Mateu and Francisco Seix and founded on June 14, 1904 in Barcelona, the company Hispano- Suiza Fabrica de automoviles SA. Birkigt was co-owner and chief designer. The vehicles produced were extremely expensive, and so the sales stagnated. It was built sales offices in Paris and Geneva to get to wealthy clientele. The car Paris Motor Show 1906 was the breakthrough for Birkigt.

In 1911 he opened in Levallois- Perret, a manufacturing plant. He has been dealing with the design of vehicles and engines, the established international reputations in part. In 1938 he founded in Geneva, the Hispano Suiza (Suisse ) SA. which dealt with weapons and tools.

For his life's work Birkigt was named among other Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour (1939) and an honorary doctorate from the ETH Zurich. He handed one over 150 patents.