Spyker Cars trademark rights are for sale

It seemed like a good story about twenty years ago: Holland had its own big car builder. The revival of the pre-war Spyker already started in 1998 with the special Silvestris V8, designed by Maarten de Bruijn. A car with a 3.5-liter Audi block attracted the attention of collectors and invested Victor Muller, who immediately put money on the table to build a production version. Spyker cars were born.

The car came to market in 2000 as the extreme C8 Spyder. The stylish exterior, but especially the interior, made the Spyker unique in the supercar world. Even Pagani couldn’t match it back then. Interest in the car was good, and soon several variants rolled off the production line in Zeewolde. Coupe, spyder, long wheelbase, turbos, Le Mans longtail, W12, Zagato body, all were possible.

Very, very quickly

That first wave of attention and the relative success of the C8 seemed to put Victor Muller a bit in over his head. In a short time there was a Le Mans GT2 team, a D8 Peking-to-Paris Super SUV concept, a W12 Zagato model and a Midland Formula 1 team were taken over. None of the projects were successful. In 2009, the second generation of the C8 was still presented: the spectacular Aileron.

The bucket finally overflowed not long after the year 2010 due to Muller’s move to buy Saab from General Motors. There was no easy way to restart production, which eventually led to the bankruptcy of the iconic company. The financial damage caused by the incident eventually drove Spyker into the abyss. Despite promises of Chevrolet and Koenigsegg V8 engines, the B6 Venator with VR6 and the ultimately lost C8 Preliator, the company eventually went from bankruptcy to bankruptcy.

Build your own Spyker

That long agony now seems to be over. It is Money Every Day reports that the rights to the Spyker Cars trademark will be offered for sale online later this month. The sale is a result of the bankruptcy of Spyker NV, which was declared bankrupt last Tuesday. If you want to produce another great car with a great brand name, this is your chance.

This latest blow to Spyker is the result of previous bankruptcy. The trustee in the case still claims €52,000 in unpaid debt. Spyker NV was the entity through which the company housed all of its stock market activities. In the ten years that NV worked on the stock market, a debt of €45 million was eventually built up.

Victor fixes it

As always, Victor Muller disputes the news that Spyker is over. Last summer, he said, the brand would take on the money of Boris Rotenberg, the Russian banker behind the SMP Racing Le Mans team. However, Rotenberg has not put a cent in Spyker, Muller now admits. The plan would not lead to the expected results. The reason for this would be an unspecified ‘internal factor’.

Despite this, Victor leaves feeling that the SMP money may come again later. According to him, the money is badly needed, as the corona crisis has “restricted” Spyker with the withdrawal of Chinese investors. ‘I’m running out of my body to get funding. I’m in the middle of that process.’

Will Victor escape the dance this time by cheating an investor from somewhere? We are curious.