Autoblog

Take your exotic sports car and put it in a room with its racing counterpart. Put on some R&B, dim the lights and wait nine months. It's a winning formula that has worked for some of the world's best automakers and resulted in such stunning performance vehicles as the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Aston Martin DBS and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, to name just a few. Now Spyker is getting ready to cue up the Barry White with the upcoming LM 85.

Named for the starting position of the Spyker C8 GTR2 racer at Le Mans, the LM 85 will be the latest race-derived, hardcore exotic sportscar. It will be based on the short-wheelbase C8 Laviolette, but lightened and tightened. Power could be as high as 450 horses, while the suspension is expected to be stiffened and weight removed to get a 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) figure near 3.8 seconds and top speed bumping the 300 km/h (186 mph) mark. Only a highly symbolic 24 examples are expected to be built in an effort to bring the niche Dutch automaker back from the brink.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport and Motor Authority]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Spyker C8 Aileron.

Lotus and Spyker have worked together on a variety of projects over the past four years, but today, they've announced a new partnership that will further solidify both automaker's technical and design prowess. As its name would imply, the "Parts and Platform Commonality Agreement" involves Lotus supplying both elements to Spyker, helping to build the Dutch supercar producer's new C8 Aileron and possible the D12 Peking-to-Paris SSUV. According to AutoCar, that could mean that future Spyker's could be based of the Lotus Esprit and that Lotus will increase its stake in the development of Spyker's cars.

Hit the jump for the Lotus/Spyker press release.

Click above to view high-res gallery of the Spyker C8 Aileron

For such a small manufacturer of specialty vehicles, Spyker hemorrhaged a huge amount of money last year; 72.075 million euros ($113.07 million at current exchange rates), to be exact. Part of this loss was due to the sale of its Formula 1 operations, but their car-selling business managed to cost them a few million more. Money was so tight that the Dutch supercar company only managed to assemble 26 cars last year -- only two in the final quarter, despite the waiting list for their wares.

Good news is on the horizon, though, as Spyker has received a cash-infusion from Snoras Group, a Lithuanian bank (and now the largest shareholder in the company), and is again up-to-speed on automobile production. The long-wheelbase C8 Aileron, along with its new automatic transmission, is scheduled to go on sale in the third quarter of this year, while their D8 Peking-to-Paris will follow in 2009. Additionally, their racing team, Spyker Squadron, will continue its GT aspirations, though Formula 1 has obviously been abandoned. So, Spyker fans, look forward to a less-tumultuous year in 2008... we're pretty sure that it couldn't be any worse than the last.

[Source: Spyker (.pdf link) via Automotive News]

Click above to view high-res gallery of the Spyker C8 Aileron

Making any car longer, particularly a sportscar, comes with penalties and concessions. But Spyker managed to circumvent them with the new C8 Aileron, which the eccentric Dutch automaker unveiled here in Geneva. Despite a ten-centimeter stretch in wheelbase, torsional rigidity has improved by a whopping 40-percent without adding extra weight to the C8's aluminum space frame. The same Audi V8 continues to deliver 400 horsepower as in the shorter C8 Laviolette, but is now offered for the first time mated to an automatic transmission, which Spyker hopes will help improve its sales and extract the company from its financial woes.

The longer wheelbase of the C8 Aileron also means that Spyker will be able to produce a more functional convertible than the spyder it's offered in the past. In the meantime, a slew of new visual details are added to the already busy design along with the stretch, including some new vents and scoops drawn from the forestalled C12 Zagato. If you want more details, we've got the full press release for you after the jump, and a whole gallery of high-resolution images of the C8 Aileron from the floor of the Geneva Motor Show.

In case you didn't know, Spyker lends its name to a number of consumer electronics, including mobile phones, digital audio players and pocket video devices. You can visit www.connect4spyker.com to view the entire product line, where Spyker reminds you in tongue-in-cheek fashion that a matching car is available for each one.

The gadget guys over at CNET, however, were excited to find what looks like an Apple iPhone clone badged with Spyker's name at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain this week. It looks exactly like an iPhone, but has a numerical keypad squished at the bottom of its face around what would be the Home button. According to CNET, the editors of which didn't get a chance to try out the phone since it was locked inside a glass case, tell us that Spyker's clone appears to be a solid attempt at capturing the magic and pixie dust that went into the design of the original. One thing's for sure, though, we know someone at Apple reads Autoblog, so Spyker should be checking its mailbox for a letter from Steve's lawyers.

[Source: CNET via Gizmodo]

click above to view the pre-production D12 at the 2007 Geneva show

Like one of their exotics sitting impatiently on your driveway, Spyker isn't content sitting still, so the bean-counters will just have to keep up. Despite deep financial woes troubling the company, Spyker is forging ahead with new models. Following the announcement that the new long-wheelbase version of the C8 Laviolette would be hitting the show stand at Geneva, Spyker has reportedly confirmed that the radical D12 Peking-to-Paris SSUV, possibly with American muscle, will in fact begin production next year. This confirmation, however, has only been reported by one website that doesn't cite its source and claims the news comes from an investors conference at which Victor Muller, the President of Spyker's management board, made the announcement. Unfortunately, we could find no other evidence that Spyker itself has confirmed the D12 is headed into production.

The production of the exotic sport-ute would be part of Spyker's plan to expand into emerging markets in Eastern Europe where performance SUVs are valued most among the growing upper class. Meanwhile, because half of its sales are in the United States, Spyker is also forced to cave in to demand for an automatic transmission in the C8, which is also reportedly confirmed for the fall.

[Source: Motor Authority]

The current standard-wheelbase Spyker C8 Laviolette

Spyker may be down, but it's not out. The Dutch exotic automaker has fallen on some hard times, but that's not going to stop it from moving forward with at least some of its plans. The C12 Zagato has been postponed indefinitely, but at the upcoming Geneva auto show in March, Spyker is expected to unveil an improved version of its existing C8 Laviolette.

As wonderfully quirky as the current C8 is, owners complain of constricted space. In response Spyker has stretched the wheelbase, giving more space in the cabin while improving the vehicles proportions. The C8 Laviolette LWB will feature an elongated version of the current model's glass roofline. A long wheelbase Spyder version is expected to follow sometime thereafter, benefiting from a proper motorized convertible roof instead of the largely useless folding rag on the current short-wheelbase model. It's a small step forward for the ailing company, but a step forward nonetheless.

Follow the jump for a video rendering of the upcoming C8 Spyder LWB doin' the turntable thing.

[Source: Spyker Owner Forum]

Good news all you power-hungry Spyker fans. Rumors are flying that the newly revived Dutch company is re-thinking the powerplants in its new C12 Zagato and D12 SUV. Instead of using VW's 6.0-liter W12, Spyker may be looking to U.S. manufacturers for its engines.

Three reasons could be driving the company to go American. One is purely financial. With the Euro worth about $1.50 right now, U.S. engines would be much cheaper than German ones. The second reason is output. VW is expected to end production of their W12 soon, and Spyker doesn't want to get caught with nothing under their hoods. The third reason is, again, output. Spyker's CEO Victor Muller has said the Audi V8 his company had once planned for use in the D12 SUV just isn't powerful enough with "only" 400 hp.

So what engines would be appropriate for Spyker? "Beleggers Belangen" quotes Muller as saying, "Look at the block in the General Motors Corvette: thick 500 hp. And from the V10 Dodge Viper: over 600 hp."

Dear Santa: We've been really good this year, but if you bring us a Viper-powered, Dutch-designed supercar with 600 hp we can't make any promises for next year.

[Sources: Autoblog.nl via Motor Authority]

If you're a regular reader here on Autoblog, it should come as no surprise that Spyker is in deep financial trouble. The exotic Dutch carmaker was forced to sell off its F1 team, cancel the production of the C12 Zagato supercar and even mortgage its own name.

Never content to go quietly into the night, however, Spyker is on a campaign to raise funds. The latest endeavor has been to court European investors, but negotiations with Lichtenstein-based ACI recently fell through after an initial agreement was signed.

According to reports, Spyker is now in negotiations with Snoras Group, a Lithuanian bank, to fund and potentially acquire stake in the Dutch automaker. Spyker says it has a few other possibilities on tap, and hopefully one of them will come through to rescue the company and its beautifully quirky automobiles.

[Source: Motor Authority]

Some of Spyker's financial woes may be in the process of being resolved, with the news that several investment firms are currently in talks with the ailing Dutch supercar manufacturer. A group of private investors known as ACI Ltd. have already signed a letter of intent with Spyker, causing stock prices to increase by almost 60-percent. Although rumors are swirling that another firm might buy up a majority stake in the automaker, Hans Hugenholtz, the interim CEO of Spyker, said that ACI's stake "won't exceed 30-percent."

More to follow as it develops.

[Source: Bloomberg]