Cavallera

## Cavallera Motor Company

The flaming rose of the Cavallera logo

Daniel Salvador

Albert Romeu

### Headquarters

Girona, Catalonia, Spain (1975 - present)Port of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (1960 - 1975)

## Business

### Number of employees

35000

Cavallera Motors and Design, commonly referred to as simply Cavallera SA, is a Spanish multinational automaker based just outside Barcelona, Spain since the 1930s, having shifted operations around from their founding place near the port of Barcelona where they started in 1963.

In 2015, Cavallera produced 2.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly 1 million) were produced in the company's Martorell plants, with the remainder coming from a variety of other plants worldwide. In 2015, Cavallera was the fifteenth biggest automaker ranked by production worldwide. The tax and official headquarters are located in Girona, but the administration and effective center of operations are alongside the factory in Martorell.

## Branding

The name Cavallera came into existence with the production of the company's first car, the Anoia. *Cavallera* originated from the word meaning horseman. Early renders of the logo always included roses or blood. This could trace its origins to the legend of Sant Jordi, the patron saint of Catalonia. *Cavallera* refers to Jordi, and the rose to the ones that grew out of the dragon's blood. In Catalan culture, dragons are unanimously evil creatures. The company claims that the decision was made to put the logo design of the red rose into the archives to be used in the future as it was unviable under Franco’s rule. Up to 1963, the company was known as "C.A.M.S.A". After this, through to 1985, the logo remained a simple badge with the lettering “CAVAL”, the word for horse in Catalan.

### Model names and codes

Officially, the company states that:

> ***Most of our product names are derived from Catalan geography, culture and history, emphasizing our passionate bond to our roots.***
>
>

For instance, the Anoia and Fluvia are rivers, Moia is a region, Vulturo and Aliga are mountains, all in Catalonia.

#### Internal codes

Furthermore, all models have individual platform codes. This is fairly straightforward to decipher. The first letter denotes the segment size (there is only one platform per segment), the next denotes the generation of the platform. After the hyphen, the body style is specified (H is hatchback, B is berlina for sedan/saloon, C is coupe, F is familiar for wagon/estate, D is descapotable for convertible, M for mid-engined coupe and X is crossover or SUV).

## History

In 1959, the company was founded by 4 friends as C.A.M.S.A (Cavallera Auto-Moto SA) in the industry of motorbike manufacturing once the government restrictions on resource usage were eased. The majority of the early models were little more than reinforced bicycle-based chassis with carburetted horizontally mounted OHV single cylinders. Over time, as sales grew and the product lineup diversified, boxer twin engines began to appear more often in the motorcycles by the early 1960s. During this period, the company also licensed out their engine designs (primarily seeing use in Japan) and did engineering consultancy work.

Meanwhile, the Spanish economy had embarked on a path of rapid economic growth in the hands of Spanish technocrats that enforced policies to industrialize, an era now known as the Spanish Miracle. Cavallera took the decision in this era, where access to metals and petrochemicals was better, to launch a division that would attempt to produce and sell simple automobiles. The government invested a significant amount of capital in various efforts such as these. In retrospect, the automotive industry was one of the most powerful components (*locomotivo*) in the country's growth - in 1946 there were 72,000 private cars in Spain, in 1966 there were over 1 million. From 1958 to 1972 it grew at a yearly compound rate of 21.7%, a rate that was unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Cavallera's first model was quite simple, relying on very simple steel panels wrapped around a basic chassis, powered by a 750cc inline twin derived from a motorcycle, driving the front wheels. This was the first generation Anoia, entering the market in 1963. By the time the Anoia was released, the organization was restructured, making way for Cavallera SA to be the umbrella that housed two companies: the automotive division and the motorcycle manufacturing division, each an independent entity.

### GGA ownership

From 1975 to 1989, Cavallera was a part of the GGA brand. Their financial backing provided the necessary support for furthering the brand recognition through motorsports but also to tap into new markets, as Spain transitioned into democracy after Francoist rule and allowed for export. In these years, Cavallera was able to add many new models to their lineup, invest more into developing newer technologies and participate in events to reach a more global market.

In the years following the Spanish Miracle, the increased oil prices meant decreasing demand for new cars or motorcycles. While the automotive division was able to harness sales in new markets, the motorcycle division did not encounter such a great deal of success and it was rescued by the Cavallera car company.

### Independence

Once the company's shares were sold off by GGA over 1989 to 1990 (GGA eventually faced bankruptcy and demise), all motorsports programs were immediately halted on the basis of cost savings. The last run of CMW V8s were prepared in 1996 and fitted to 80 cars, the Vulturó. A prestigious, fast car that remained cheap and easy to build and engineer was needed to increase prestige and awareness, therefore a combination of AHS steel and carbonfibre steel was used. This car was notable for being the first Cavallera car to have any carbonfibre components. It went on to become one of the quickest (in terms of acceleration) cars of the 1990s. Sales were not improving much, even if brand recognition was high.

It was during this time the design division was consolidated, and Design Centers were built around the world. They would serve the purpose of not only attracting aspiring design students but also to foster relationships between Cavallera and other marques around the world.

A corporate decision was made by the late 90s, with stagnating sales, to completely refresh the model and engine lineup. Starting in 2001, a new modular engine architecture was employed, centered around an oversquare, 500cc-per-cylinder template. It also featured DOHC 4v for the first time in a mass production Cavallera vehicle but used MPFI and cast iron bottom and top ends to save on costs. At the same time, a financial crisis was unravelling in Asia and Maesima was looking to share platforms to save costs. Cavallera and Maesima had struck up a collaboration to co-develop three platforms:

* a FWD monocoque C segment hatchback
* a RWD/AWD midsized SUV platform
* a FWD/AWD compact SUV/crossover platform (although this was developed much later, more towards the end of the collaborative effort)

The agreement also specified that Cavallera would produce and provide the engines (from the modular architecture) while Maesima would provide Cavallera access to their factories and dealerships in Asia to tap into the Asian market, an area that had not been thoroughly explored.

As the global financial crisis unfolded around 2008, the partnership was terminated. The first few models after the partnership continued to use slightly further developed platforms from the Maesima era. Sales did falter but the growth of demand in the crossover market abated the severity of the decline. The decision was made to invest again into developing a second generation of modular architecture, which now heavily relied upon direct injection usage, and also featured a full AlSi construction. It did remain DOHC 4v with CAVAL-II (VVL) technology.

(LOBBY WITH CONTE TO MAKE RAIL LINE TO PORT OF BARCELONA?)

https://snag.gy/tlFiXo.jpg

## Leadership

\*PERSON (START YEAR–END YEAR)

make a table

## Markets

Initially under Francoist rule, Cavallera cars and motorcycles were initially only sold in Spain. Soon, other European and South American markets were accessed, such as Italy, England and Argentina. As Spain progressed and the company was acquired by GGA, the company expanded its reach to the US, Germany and Scandinavia. It was after the Maesima joint effort that the Asian market was tapped into. Today, their cars are sold in almost all markets. Plants and offices in Japan and Britain assemble cars in RHD to distribute in their regions, while LHD cars are assembled and shipped directly from Spain or Slovakia for Europe and other regions. Cars for faraway markets such as Australia or New Zealand are directly imported. Japan also serves as a distribution point for knockdown kits for Asian markets that have local parts percentage requirements. Another one is located in the US for markets in South American with similar regulations.

## Motorsport

### Hillclimb presence

The first and second generation of Moia had many races mainly in hillclimb, but a few times by privateers in the ETCC. The SOHC 2v engines were not quite as powerful as others that used DOHC heads, but they notched up a few victories due to their very low weight and handling characteristics.

### International competition

#### AGTC

Cavallera's competition debut was in 1975 when one factory-backed team fielding ACA-powered Falcos entered the AGTC, held in the US and finished in 4th place, just behind a Montrouge Estoc, another company entering American soil for the first time. Cavallera's vision was to spearhead into the USDM market using motorsports recognition as the platform. This idea was greenlit by GGA as that would enable them to place Cavallera as the exotic, sporty European brand in their lineup and thus led to the development of an all new sports car with extensive use of aluminium in the race car, all of which led to a 4th place finish in the season. There were no factory efforts after the one season, however, a few entrances were made by privateers with their own Falcos.

#### Group B

The Anoia served as the platform for efforts into Group B, another effort to further global brand awareness and to build brand prestige. The new SOHC 4v smaller boxer 4 family were a much better starting platform but were also upgraded to DOHC 4v heads in racing form. Using turbos, the cars were capable of producing around 400hp or more. This effort spurred the company to seek out a partnership to advance technology for production cars, eventually culminating in *System Toro*, the result of an effort with Contendiente. By late 1984, a new skunkworks project was under heavy development to make a small mid-engine coupe capable of housing the 2.5L inline 5. However, following the deaths of 1986, all efforts were stopped immediately; the Anoia continued development and raced on in Group A in privateer guise, while the midship coupe rally plans and tooling were sold off to the newly-formed Hypera, later leading to their first model.

### DTM

In the last year under GGA ownership, the DTM program was greenlit and a CMW V8 was sourced for use in the Gaia. The car was developed to conform to Group A and used a deeply reengineered variant of the CMW V8, now employing a flatplane crankshaft. This would later go on to be used in the infamous Vulturó.

### AMGT

After numerous years of being missing from the motorsports scene, Cavallera made a return by entering the Aliga into AGT4. Also rumoured but hitherto unconfirmed are plans to enter AGTE with an upcoming supercar.