of land was found in Sitges, a seaside town next to Barcelona. Himmel was responsible for the planning and realization of the newly built 130-people design facility, which was named “DCE – Design Centre Europe”. He worked there for Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT and Skoda. Such successful designs as the Audi A8, S3 and RS4, and Volkswagen Touareg, Touran and essential parts of Golf IV and Phaeton were created. Fuore Design, 2000–2007 At the end of 1999, Himmel was offered the position of chief designer at Skoda, but he decided instead to start his own business. And so he founded the independent 35-people design studio “Fuore Design” in the heart of Barcelona. Beside the core business of automotive design, he specialized in brand consulting. He consulted Mitsubishi in their process of finding a new design language, and created the two concept cars, the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution and Pajero Evolution 2+2, which were presented at the 2001 “Frankfurt IAA” and the 2002 “Geneva Salon International de l’Auto”. After the great feedback at the shows, Himmel was also responsible for the design development of the Dakar Rally multiple-champion racing car Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution. Subaru had a strategic relationship with Fuore. Himmel developed a new brand design strategy. His concept car Subaru B11S showed the new philosophy at the 2003 “Geneva Salon International de l’Auto”. The current models Subaru R1, R2 and B9 Tribeca were created by him, too. With the ‘XF 10’ and the ‘BlackJag’, Himmel presented his first self-developed show cars at the 2003 “Barcelona Salón Internacional del Automóvil” and the 2004 “Geneva Salon International de l’Auto”. Himmel worked for almost every leading corporate group in the automotive sector. After a hard year in 2006 and a bad forecast of incoming contracts in 2007, Himmel did not see a good enough economic perspective to continue and decided to sell the company at the middle of 2007. Hispano Suiza Automobilmanufaktur AG, from 2008 After selling Fuore Design in 2007, Erwin Leo Himmel dedicated himself to his dream goal of owning his own car brand in the luxury segment. After years of research and his activities in Barcelona, he noticed the historic automobile brand Hispano Suiza. Since the brand became free after decades of inactivity, Erwin Leo Himmel registered this brand and brought it back to life. In 2019 Erwin Leo Himmel expanded Hispano Suiza with its own division for alternative drive technologies in