Well, our in-house English translator, John R. Bopp, as in me, a Nevadan who fell in love with the Basque country, came across an exciting discovery.
It turns out that a Quebecois startup, Girfalco, has been showing off its new concept car for a few months now: an electric car with three wheels, two seats, thatโs fast, rapid, and downright quick.
Azkarra S (Girfalco)
Itโs so fast that they assure that in simulations, it can reach 62mph/100kph in 2.5 seconds! ย We werenโt kidding when we said it was damned fast. ย Plus, its top speed is 240kph or 149mph, with at least 200km or 125mi of range.
You can see the interest this project is raising, especially in the Francophone world, given the large number of appearances in the press around the world.
We admit that we like cars, and weโre especially interested in electric and hybrid cars. ย But the reason weโre dedicating a blog entry to this car is mostly due to the name the projectโs sponsors have chosen for it: Azkarra, which means โfastโ in Basque. ย Itโs a perfect name for the car, but we have to admit, we were surprised to see the company had chosen a Basque word.
Given the surnames we found on the website, it doesnโt seem like any of the people at the company are of Basque origin, but we canโt forget the large number of Southern Basque descendants who live in North America.
Azkarra S (Girfalco)
So, for the time being, weโre left with our curiosity. ย But since weโre going to give them a blog entry, we hope that theyโll clear up our questions.
Ya tenemos la respuesta de unoย de los propietarios de Girfalco, que nos explica la razรณn de que su vehรญculo se llama “Azkarra”:
One of the owners at Gifalco tells us why the model is called Azkarra
Let me first thank you for your interest in Girfalco and its first electric vehicle, the Azkarra. ย The Azkarra is indeed named after the Basque word meaning โquickโ. In all honesty, we had searched for a name for our vehicle by first translating various words (e.g. thunder, quick, wind, etc.) in various languages, which made us come across โAzkarraโ and a few others words that could be of interest, in case โAzkarraโ was already used for a vehicle. It always was my favorite, because the Basque Country is one of the few destinations that is on my list of places I have to visit again; I had the chance to visit part of that region around 20 years ago (i.e. San Sebastian and Bilbao) and I found it to be filled with architectural treasures and cultural richness. My ancestors helped built Quebec and Canada, and I can certainly appreciate the importance of preserving the language and culture of the Basque Country; not unlike the French in North America, the Basque language and culture are part of the worldโs heritage and richness that will benefit current and future generations. Should you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned. Thank you and please accept my kindest regards, Simon Luc Bouchard
By the way, the information weโve found has said that starting in the middle of January, theyโll start accepting the first pre-reservations to attain one of these cars. ย The sales price for this fastest, most powerful, and most expensive model, the Azkarra S, will be C$97,000 (about โฌ69,000). ย Expensive? ย Well, everythingโs relative, and theyโre expecting to build 25 units of this model for 2017. ย Plus, its name is in Basque, and that always raises the price!
Clean Technica – 2/12/2016 – USA
Girfalco Unveils 3-Wheel Azkarra EV โ 0โ62 MPH In 2.5 Seconds, 124 Miles Range
The Quebec-based electric vehicle startup Girfalco has now unveiled its high-performance 3-wheel electric vehicle, the Azkarra โย providing us with a few surprises. The model is seemingly deserving of the moniker โhigh-performanceโ with its acceleration of 0 to ~62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in just 2.5 seconds; its peak power of 225 kW (in the โSโ version); its top speed of ~149 mph; and its range of ~124 miles per full-charge.