Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car brand held by the holding company Spyker N.V. (formerly known as Spyker Cars N.V. and Swedish Automobile N.V.). The modern Spyker Cars company held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's motto is "Nulla tenaci invia est via", Latin for "For the tenacious, no road is impassable". The marque's logo displays an aircraft propeller superimposed over a spoked wheel, a reference to the historic Spyker company that manufactured automobiles and aircraft. In 2010, the company acquired Swedish car manufacturer Saab Automobile from General Motors.
In an attempt to save Spyker from bankruptcy, Swedish Automobile in September 2011 announced the immediate sale of Spyker to North Street Capital for €32 million (US$41 million). Subsequently, the company changed its name to Swedish Automobile N.V. However, it was later revealed that the transaction did not occur.
On 18 December 2014, Spyker confirmed that it had gone bankrupt, hoping to restructure its finances and get back on its feet. The bankruptcy declaration was reverted in early 2015, and the company announced it would continue with the production of sports cars. In 2021, it went bankrupt again. In January 2022, Spyker announced a return to building cars after being backed by Russian investors. The company showed a revised version of the C8 called the Preliator XXV in August 2026.
History Early years
In 1999, the reborn company was founded by Victor Muller and Maarten de Bruijn, and since 2000, Spyker has been building sports cars such as the C8 Spyder and the C8 Laviolette. Spyker's history of producing aero engines is incorporated in the details in these new cars as well as in the logo. The first car built by de Bruijn was the Spyker Silvestris prototype, which inspired the C8 model.
The C8 Laviolette and C8 Spyder have a 4172 cc Audi V8 engine delivering , acceleration from in 4.5 seconds, and a top speed of . On 14 July 2005, Spyker announced that the C8 had been approved for sale in the US market.
Between 2002 and 2006, Spyker built the C8 Double 12 S, which was available from the factory with 5 different levels of performance called Stage I (400 h.p.) through Stage V (620 h.p.), depending on the customer's need for performance.
Between 2003 and 2007, Spyker built the C8 Spyder T, with the twin-turbo system developed in conjunction with Cosworth in England. These engines were capable of 525 h.p. and 0–60 mph acceleration times of 4.0 seconds.
In 2005, the head designer and founder, Maarten de Bruijn, left the company and Simon Koop took over as main designer while Maarten de bruijn founded Silvestris Aquamotive, which builds aluminum space frame speed boats.
In 2006, Spyker built the C12 La Turbie with a W12 engine capable of 500 horsepower and acceleration from 0–60 mph in less than 4 seconds.
In September 2006, Spyker acquired the Midland F1 team, which subsequently competed in the final three races of the 2006 season as Spyker MF1. During the 2007 Formula One season, the team competed as Spyker F1 using engines supplied by Ferrari. Driver Adrian Sutil was paired with Christijan Albers until the European Grand Prix, after which the latter was replaced by reserve driver Markus Winkelhock; the team then signed Sakon Yamamoto to fill in the slot for the rest of the year. The team itself had minimal success, suffering from multiple retirements (including double retirements in Malaysia, Canada, and Brazil) before Sutil scored the team's first and only point in Japan. At the end of the season, the team was sold to a consortium named "Orange India" led by Vijay Mallya, and was subsequently renamed Force India.
On 27 May 2004, Spyker Cars listed on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange at €15.50, falling to a low of €8.28 in April 2005. The stock rebounded sharply in early 2006 to over €22 per share. Early in 2007 the stock showed a sharp decline to levels beneath €13 because of financing issues. As a result, several stock issues were announced to big investors. Notably, all shares have been sold at higher prices than the market price at the moment of announcement. On 13 November 2005, Spyker Cars and Mubadala Development Company, a principal investment company wholly owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, announced their strategic alliance, with Mubadala acquiring 17% of Spyker. Mubadala has a strong relationship with sports cars, also controlling 5% of Ferrari.
In 2007, Spyker, in collaboration with the Italian car-design firm Zagato, produced the C12 Zagato, based on the C12 La Turbie, but with a restyled body, increased performance, and the Zagato trademark double bubble roof. This is perhaps the most exclusive Spyker car to date.
In November 2009, Spyker announced that it would be moving production from Zeewolde to Whitley, Coventry, where assembly would be done in partnership with CPP Manufacturing.Dutch car maker plans move to UK, BBC News. UK production began in February 2010. Due to the bankruptcy of SAAB and a falling out with its business partners, the production was not moved to the UK.
Acquisition of Saab Automobile
In late November 2009, following the collapse of Koenigsegg Group's acquisition of Saab Automobile from General Motors (GM), Spyker placed a bid of its own to acquire Saab. General Motors (GM), receptive to the offer, entered into negotiations with Spyker and conducted an extensive due diligence effort. From this, they learned that the Swedish monetary and security agencies had uncovered ties between the family of Vladimir Antonov—a major Spyker shareholder—and organized crime syndicates engaged in money laundering. In part due to this, GM ended negotiations with Spyker on the 18th of December, stating that it would begin a staged wind-down of operations at Saab Automobile in January if a buyer for it couldn't be found.
Spyker CEO Victor Muller revived the deal by revising the company's acquisition bid and acquiring Antonov's shares via Tenaci, another company he owned. On 26 January 2010, Spyker reached an agreement with GM to purchase Saab for US$394 million, comprising US$74 million in cash and US$320 million in Spyker stock, subject to regulatory and government approval. General Motors would continue to supply Saab with engines and transmissions and would produce the new Saab 9-4X at GM's Mexican factory. To pay the upfront acquisition cost, Spyker took out a loan from the European Investment Bank and borrowed $US25 million from Convers Bank, owned by former investor Vladimir Antonov.
On 23 February 2010, Spyker completed its acquisition of Saab Automobile and announced it would restructure to make both Spyker and Saab subsidiaries of a parent company called Swedish Automobile. The restructure was completed on 15 June 2011, when shareholders agreed at the company's annual shareholder meeting to change its official name from Spyker Cars N.V. to Swedish Automobile N.V.
Saab bankruptcy By the end of 2010, however, Saab Automobile ran out of money, and Spyker was unable to fund the losses. The companies stopped paying their bills in early 2011, resulting in the halting of production on 30 March due to suppliers refusing to deliver parts on credit.
In February 2011, it was announced that Swedish Automobile, the Dutch owner of Saab Automobile, agreed to sell its sports car unit to Vladimir Antonov. Antonov, a former Spyker chairman and shareholder, was expected to pay €15 million (US$21 million) for the company. However, in March 2011, the deal fell through, with Spyker's manufacturing partner CPP Manufacturing placing a bid, but this deal fell through later that month.
On 8 June 2011, Saab Automobile said it had stopped production due to an insufficient supply of parts. This occurred only two weeks after resuming production following a seven-week hiatus. The supply of parts stopped because Saab did not pay its suppliers. Production was due to start again on 9 August.
On the 23rd of June, Saab announced that it was unable to pay June salaries to the entire workforce of 3,800 due to lack of funding. The trade union IF Metall gave Saab seven days to pay the salaries to their employees; otherwise, IF Metall threatened to force a liquidation of the company. On 29 June, Saab employees were paid.
Swedish Automobile initially tried to secure funding in May 2011 via proposed joint ventures with Chinese automotive manufacturers Hawtai and Youngman and the Chinese car dealership chain Pang Da. As negotiations had not progressed by September, Swedish Automobile offered to sell its Spyker Cars division to the American private equity firm North Street Capital for €32 million (US$41 million), but was declined.Spykercars.nl Press release September 29, 2011 . Saab Automotive submitted a debt restructuring plan that would put the company on track to have positive equity by 2014 via a process that would involve terminating 500 employees to save €110,000,000. The proposal was accepted by a Swedish court on 31 October 2011.
On 28 October 2011, Swedish Automobile announced that it would sell Saab Automobile for €100 million (US$140 million) to Youngman and Pang Da, who would acquire 60 and 40 percent of Saab's shares, respectively. GM rejected the deal with Youngman and Pang Da on 7 November to prevent them from benefiting from technology Saab had licensed from it. On 19 December, following a month of unsuccessful negotiations with GM, Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy due to being unable to find another company to acquire it.Saab Automobile Files for Bankruptcy Swedish Automotive attempted to prevent the liquidation of Saab by putting Spyker Cars up for sale again but was unable to find a buyer.Washington Post - Spyker Cars
On 16 April 2012, a meeting regarding Saab's bankruptcy was held at the District Court of Vänersborg. The official receivers in charge of the Saab liquidation valued its assets and debt at US$500 million and US$2 billion, respectively, leaving it with a debt of US$1.5 billion. In June 2012, the company was sold to the Chinese-Swedish investment group National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), after which Swedish Automotive N.V. was renamed Spyker N.V.
Post-bankruptcy On 6 August 2012, Spyker announced that it would sue GM over the Saab bankruptcy, with CEO Muller stating, "Ever since we were forced to file for Saab Automobile's bankruptcy in December of last year, we have worked relentlessly on the preparation for this lawsuit, which seeks to compensate Spyker and Saab for the massive damages we have incurred as a result of GM's unlawful actions." In June 2013, the US$3 billion claim was heard in Detroit, Michigan, before US Federal Judge Gershwin Drain. Drain dismissed it on the basis that "General Motors had a contractual right to approve or disapprove the proposed transaction" due to Spyker having given GM the right to veto any change of ownership in the Saab acquisition agreement. Spyker's appeal of the ruling was heard at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on 24 October 2014. Judge Eugene Siler ruled in favor of GM, stating that the company's blocking of the sale of Saab had not been malicious but rather based upon "legitimate business concerns" about who would benefit from Saab's use of GM technology.
On 27 August 2012, Spyker announced that Youngman had acquired a 29.9% stake in the company for €10 million (US$12.5 million). Two joint ventures between Spyker and Youngman were announced, Spyker P2P and Spyker Phoenix, with Spyker having 25% and 20% stakes in them, respectively. Spyker P2P would develop new luxury sports utility vehicles, while Spyker Phoenix would develop a range of premium cars based on the Saab PhoeniX platform.