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. On 14 July 2005, Spyker announced that the C8 had been approved for sale in the
US market. at Salon Prive,
London, England. 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 founded Silvestris Aquamotive, which builds aluminum space frame
speed boats. In 2006, Spyker built the
C12 La Turbie with a V12 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. 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. 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 , the first Saab vehicle released under Spyker ownership 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. 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. 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. 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. Swedish Automotive attempted to prevent the liquidation of Saab by putting Spyker Cars up for sale again but was unable to find a buyer. 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, On 16 September 2013, Spyker N.V. lost its listing on
Euronext Amsterdam after failing to undergo a restructuring agreement. On 5 November 2014, the Central Netherlands District Court ordered Spyker to leave the factory it had been renting within seven days and pay its owner €152,000 in overdue rent. The claim was made by Jacques Walch, the owner of the factory rented by Spyker. Despite this, CEO Victor Muller insisted the company would be able to pay its bills "in a matter of days". On 2 December 2014, Spyker NV was granted a moratorium on payments (financial restructuring) by the Central Netherlands District Court. the company needed protection from creditors due to liquidity problems. Victor R. Muller, Spyker's founder and chief executive, said, "Over the past few years, Spyker has faced a number of serious difficulties and challenges resulting from, among others, the legacy of the F1 era and the acquisition of Saab Automobile AB". That same day, Spyker filed a voluntary petition for financial restructuring ("surseance van betaling") to address short-term operational and liquidity challenges, the Dutch equivalent of
Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Central Netherlands District Court initially declared the company bankrupt on 18 December but reversed course on 29 January 2015, after Spyker appealed the decision. The court granted Spyker's petition and appointed an administrator to work with the Board of Management in overseeing the company's affairs until the restructering was complete. The ruling granted Spyker a
moratorium on payments protecting its assets from seizure by creditors during the restructuring period. On 13 May, Spyker reached a settlement with its creditors – to whom it owed a combined €44 million – agreeing to pay each €12,000. Saab GB, the largest creditor with €24.9 million at stake, agreed to receive a payment of €61,000. A later attempt by the Latvian bank Lizings to claim additional funds was rejected by the court. On 29 July 2015, Spyker completed its restructuring plan and resumed regular business operations. In March 2016, the company announced the production of a new model, the C8 Preliator, at the
Geneva Motor Show. In January 2021, Spyker filed for bankruptcy again. Mr. D. Steffens was appointed trustee in bankruptcy. In 2023, trustee Steffens announced that he might file charges against Muller for bankruptcy fraud. By that time, Spyker no longer had a production site, personnel, parts, and tools; these had been laid off, sold, or had disappeared at an earlier stage. Only the trademark rights and intellectual property remained. In the August 2025 bankruptcy report, trustee Dennis Steffens announced the sale of Spyker's trademark rights. This made any restart by Muller impossible and marked an important step in the final liquidation of the company. In October 2025, Spyker founder Victor Muller and the trustee in the insolvency of two Spyker subsidiaries had reached a final and full settlement which allowed the automaker to be fully in control of the company he started. ==Models==