Despite the lack of investors, Victor Muller continues to believe in Spyker’s revival

About the episode

Anyone who wanted to show off their wealth around 2000 ordered a unique sports car from the Spyker brand. Millionaire and quality optimist Victor Muller had canceled the car brand, whose history began in 1880, in 1998 and produced new, unique cars.

Initially, Muller seems to be successful in giving Spyker a future. The wealthy lawyer has a knack for taking on every investor he meets in his entrepreneurial dream. About 260 cars will be produced by Spyker that will even compete in Formula 1. To top it all off, Spyker took over the ailing Swedish Saab in 2010, which was often huge. But the adventure with Saab turns out to be a failure. There is also a little left of Spyker.

But Muller continues to dream about making unique cars. He travels the world looking for followers to revive Spyker. When one part of Spyker goes bankrupt, he also convinces the manager Dennis Steffens of Van Diepen Van der Kroef that the car brand has a future. But will Muller still be able to sell his dream or is his spell over?

‘Under the management’ skips a week: next Friday you will find a new episode in your podcast channel.

Under the keepers

Not every entrepreneurial adventure ends with a listing in the Quotation 500, not every company survives a major crisis, and not every company knows how to play the money game well. And when everything goes wrong, when chaos reigns and creditors are clamoring at the gate, then the age of the caretaker begins.

In this series, financial journalists Elisa Hermanides and Thomas van Zijl talk about the unforgettable bankruptcy and the savers, the scavengers of the business community. Subscribe to get a new episode every Friday. Or listen to BNR on Fridays at 1pm.

Editorial: Jochem Visser / Design: Gijs Friesen and Connor Clerx / Sound editing: Wesley Schouwenaars / Illustration: FDMG | Milja Oortwijn / Final editing: Elisa Hermanides / Thanks to: Wendy Beenakker, Sharine de Rooij and Bram Mullink