Spyker ramps production

Newswheel staff :: 27 March 2006 :: Filed under Mid / rear engine sportscar, SUV, Spyker, Europe & UK, US

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Dutch madmen get serious

A loss of 1.9 million euros. 48 cars sold. That was 2005 for Dutch sports car maker Spyker. But thanks to a successful floatation on the Amsterdam stock exchange last year, which generated a cash injection of around 14 million, as well as increased demand, Spyker is tooling up to boost production to 100 cars for 2006. Meanwhile, development continues on the company’s batshit SUV model, the D12 Peking-to-Paris, first seen at the Geneva show earlier this month…

What’s more, with 191 orders on the books at the end of last year, it seems there’s demand aplenty for Spyker’s chromed-out, in-your-face offerings. 2005 also saw what Spyker describes as “strong expansion” of its US and Middle East distro networks, with the US dimension made possible by successful EPA certification. Further plans for 2006 include a continuation of the outfit’s racing programme, including another foray to Le Mans, as well as the turning of its very first profit – expected to come as soon as Q1 this year.

The Spyker C12 LaTurbie. Yes really, LaTurbie. Yours for a piffling 290,000 of Frankfurt’s finest, and just one of five variants on Spyker’s current two-seater theme. Power comes courtesy of a modded VW/Audi W12 engine. Spyker will also do you a (slightly) cheaper model packing an Audi V8.

As for 2007, look out for a production variant of the batshit D12 Peking-to-Paris high performance off-roader. For the record, the D12 runs a VW-source W12 lump with dry sump lubrication mods and a 500bhp output. The chassis is an extruded aluminium spaceframe affair, clothed in an all-aluminium sheet metal.

All in, the D12 is expected to tip the scales at a positively puny (for a full-sized SUV) 1,850kg. Performance, therefore, should be on the nippy side of fast. Spyker predicts a top whack of 300kph (around 186mph in old money) and reckons it will polish off the dash to 100kph (62.5mph) in five seconds flat. Stick that in your transaxle and smoke it, Porsche Cayenne.

Linkage:
Reuters
Spyker press release