A Dutch automotive manufacturer, Spyker is actually one of the oldest names in the automotive industry, tracing its roots back to the late 1800s when it made the “Golden Coach” that is still in use by the Dutch monarchy today, and made automobiles even before the turn of the century. The original Spyker company would go on to make race cars like the one that finished second in the Peking to Paris competition.
During World War I, Spyker would also manufacture aircraft involved in the war, and a motto for the brand was coined in Latin: “Nulla Tenaci invia est via,” which translates to “For the tenacious no road is impassable.” The original Spyker went dormant in the 1920s, but when it was revived in 1999, those two milestones would serve as major inspirations for the modern-day Spyker brand.
Spyker came back in the early 2000s with a supercar called the C8 Spyder. The open-top, mid-engined supercar featured iconic design details inspired by the aircraft of Spyker’s past, like the aircraft-inspired logo, the “Aeroblade” wheels, visible riveting on the exteriors of some models, and an interior design concept with a milled aluminum dashboard, quilted upholstery, and switchgear reminiscent of vintage aircraft.
The C8 Spyder, and its coupe variant, the Laviolette, were both powered by a 4.2-liter V8 engine from Audi, and a twin-turbo version, with the added suffix of T, was later added to the lineup for added performance. Adding motorsport efforts to its ambitions, Spyker spent part of the 2006 season and the 2007 season competing in Formula 1, with a team that would eventually become Force India, and the manufacturer also made grand touring versions of the C8 to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Spyker Squadron factory racing team.
Throughout the 2000s and even into the 2010s, Spyker, and especially its co-founder Victor Muller, showcased incredible ambition. One of those ambitions was a concept for a Super SUV, the D12/D8 Peking-to-Paris that predated the cohort of high-performance SUVs we know today from brands like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and more. The Spyker C12 LaTurbie, and a Zagato-bodied counterpart, the Spyker C12 Zagato, would have brandished a production mid-engined application of the Volkswagen Group W12 if they came to fruition, a prospect that the Volkswagen W12 supercar made enticing.
Spyker eventually replaced the first generation of the C8 with the C8 Aileron in 2009, and a concept for the C8 Aileron Spyder also emerged. In 2010, Spyker acquired Saab from General Motors, with the 2011 Saab 9-5 actually being created under Spyker ownership. After acquiring Saab, though, Spyker ran into serious financial trouble as a manufacturer, resulting in the bankruptcy of Saab Automobile.
That didn’t stop Spyker from creating another concept car, however, with the B6 Venator concept being revealed at Geneva in 2013. However, Spyker went bankrupt in late 2014, announcing in 2015 that it successfully exited the moratorium it had, and revealing a new concept, a successor to the C8 Aileron in early 2016, the C8 Preliator.
In 2017, a commemorative version of the Aileron, the C8 Aileron LM85, was revealed, and it was powered by a supercharged 4.2-liter Audi V8, inspired by the C8 Laviolette LM85 of the past, and limited to just three units. Since then, not much has happened for Spyker, but an intriguing announcement came rather recently, in October of 2025.
That announcement said that Victor Muller, the co-founder of Spyker, had reached an agreement regarding the intellectual property rights of the company. In the announcement, Muller stated that the agreement meant that “we can now continue to focus on the future of our beautiful Spyker brand and, in particular, the production of meticulously hand-built Spyker super sports cars.”
For enthusiasts, hope is still alive that Spyker may return with a new cohort of supercars, but there hasn’t been any more news since the October announcement. If you want to own a Spyker, though, examples on the second-hand market are incredibly rare. duPont REGISTRY, the source for supercars since 1985, is the place to search for examples of Spyker supercars for sale, and other rare and exclusive luxury and exotic cars. You can start your search by clicking below.
Image Source: Spyker Cars
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