Spain, the land of sunshine and a getaway destination for British tourists a country of open vistas, bull fighting and cheap package holidays. These are the stereotypical images that have come to define what Spain means to the British.

There is nothing stereotypical about IFR Automotive a Spanish engineering company founded in 2003 by Ignacio Fernandez Rodriguez. Spain does not have a history of innovative car companies indeed much of its automotive technology has been imported. Seat may be Spanish but the owners are VW, the engineering is German, its like serving readymade Paella's whilst the ingredients are made in Bavaria.

Rodriguez, however, is no stranger to automotive innovation having worked for Pro Drive and Mitsubishi on their Rally programs. IFR Automotive design and develop highly specialized components for the automotive industry.

The Aspid is a distillation of this philosophy for it is a showcase of technology inspiration a realisation of IFR's ambition and a pointer of the way ahead for future developments. On first glance the Aspid has very British underpinnings, it is designed to be light weight (700kg) and driver focused yet also drivable on roads, in fact one could say that the Aspid is a Spanish Lotus.

IFR Automotive have produced something that has ballistic capabilities, 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, a top speed of 160mph yet it is rumored to return 50 mpg. There were also a set of dual-disk brakes, steel formed and drilled they looked works of art, designed to give enhanced stopping power whilst cooling down quickly thus reducing fade. This is the type of detail that IFR want to showcase with the Aspid.

IFR are looking to make the Aspid in Britain, Spain simply doesn't have the specialist skills and knowledge to make such a car. Indeed the whole exterior design looked very 'British' a Spanish twist on the Morgan perhaps, but make no mistake IFR is not a Spanglish company and they are not trying to copy from the past it is a company that is setting its own future on its own merits.