At The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, multiple-times defunct and revived coachbuilder Spyker returned to life once more. Almost exactly 25 years after the most recent reboot, in the year 2000, Spyker showed a new model dubbed the C8 Preliator XXV with an updated design, powertrain, and of course, extensive customization options.
And unlike so many show cars that automakers push onto pedestals at The Quail, Spyker purposefully brought a running, driving vehicle to double down on the revitalized company’s production intent.
Ahead of the debut, Spyker invited duPont REGISTRY to the firm’s new headquarters in Amsterdam while the Quail car’s build remained in an early phase of assembly. Photos of the workshop were not allowed, understandably, but after witnessing a new vision for power and performance, not to mention collectability and craftsmanship, Spyker’s return seems ripe for today’s era of ultra-exclusivity and exuberant personalization.
Fans of early-2000s supercars will remember the original C8, such a uniquely styled two-seater from the tiny Dutch automaker. Straddling the line between rolling art and serious performance machine, with intricate handmade metal surfaces and a proven Audi powertrain, the first C8 then went on to a total of three different variants, with 270 units built and even a Le Mans racing era (pictured above) – before an absolutely stunning attempt by Spyker to break into Formula 1 (below).
That quick ramp-up shouldn’t be too surprising, as Spyker’s lineage traces back to 1880 when Spujker(Dutch spelling)-built horsedrawn carriages for everything from public transportation to creations ornate enough that they remain in use by the royal family of the Netherlands to this day. By 1898, the company transitioned to building its first motorcar with a Benz engine, and by 1903 the world’s first six-cylinder four-wheel-drive car with a whopping – for the time – total of 60 horsepower. A Spyker 14/18 HP model raced 15,000 kilometers from Peking to Paris in 1907, and secured quite possibly the world’s first automotive sponsorship by Louis Vuitton for the effort (below).
When Dutch entrepreneur Victor Muller acquired Spyker’s naming rights for the new millennium, he perhaps dove headlong into racing too quickly – especially with the money pit of F1, which essentially ground the business to a halt and led to a series of increasingly public failures to build future roadgoing cars, including a super-SUV concept well before that segment exploded in popularity over the past decade or so. But now, after many years of protracted litigation, Muller has taken the helm once more and believes the time has come to right Spyker’s very public wrongs.
“I think in the past 10 years, this market has changed more than in the 50 years before,” Muller stated. “If there was ever a time to make Spyker into a profitable business, it's now, because of changes in the marketplace and to collectability of cars, the demand which has gone through the roof.”
The new C8 Preliator XXV clearly evolves upon the styling of the original, but beneath the skin Muller explained that 85% of the car’s kinematics required overhauling. No wonder, as the new drivetrain boasts up to 800 horsepower from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, again sourced from Audi.
The engine will arrive in a stock state of tune for American customers, and Spyker will only sell the new model with an old-fashioned six-speed manual borrowed from the V10 Audi R8 and Lamborghini Gallardo siblings. No automatic option, no hybrid, no all-wheel-drive. At just 3,251 pounds, the new C8 should be quite the analog affair.
“We don't want big screens in a Spyker, we have no interest in making a Tesla interior for it. On the contrary, likewise, we have no interest in making a fake gearbox,” Muller quipped, referring to an infamous recent PR fiasco. “My customers want to be able to blow up their own engine if they don’t shift the right way. They feel the gearbox, they are absolutely in direct contact with the engine, and if they make a mistake, they pay the price. And if you don't want to make that mistake, buy something else, right?”
Further details include updated Recaro seats, R8-sourced carbon-ceramic brakes, and 3D-printed suspension uprights. Lotus suspension components still underpin the platform, yet the finer touchpoints also receive just as much attention. Each car requires eleven leather hides, and a single craftsman hand-stitches each steering wheel for four hours. Rather than switching to carbon fiber for the body, Spyker stuck with the more intricate hand-wheeled aluminum. Hence the inflated price tag, now well into seven figures – yet despite past drama and future question marks, Muller boasted that Spyker already sold 18 cars without a single customer so much as seeing one of the 25 planned allocations in the flesh.
Muller’s vision clearly expands far beyond the immaculate greens of The Quail, or even the C8 Preliator XXV. That super SUV? Still on the table, along with the search for a massive new facility to support expanded production, Monterey Car Week served as more than simply testing the waters. At least in part because Spyker also recently brought on funding from Ukrainian blockchain and cryptocurrency founder of WhiteBIT and W Group – and supercar collector in his own right – Volodymyr Nosov to support Muller’s latest passion project and hopefully quash any lingering doubts about whether Spyker can sustain a similar business model on the strength of such palpable enthusiasm alone.
“I have to finish what I started 26 years ago,” Muller emphasized, with audible emotion in his voice. “And that is to make Spyker into a profitable business that my heirs will be happy to have, rather than a business that failed somewhere along the line.”
Images by Michael Van Runkle
