It seems the plucky Dutch supercar maker has finally run out of luck, as Spyker Cars, builder of some of the most exquisitely-crafted machines on the planet, has formally declared bankruptcy.
A Dutch district court halted a temporary moratorium on payments – equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States – granted on December 2, because the committed bridge funding did not arrive in time to save the company. This puts Spyker and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Spyker Automobielen and Spyker Events and Branding, into receivership.
Spyker's precarious financial position has been at least partly caused by its 2010 purchase of Saab, which itself went bust a year later after a last-ditch sale to Chinese carmaker Youngman Lotus was blocked by former owner General Motors. Spyker sued GM for US$3 billion over the matter, but the case was dismissed earlier this year.
"None of the ambitions we had when we founded Spyker 15 years ago has vanished as a result of today's events," said the company's CEO Victor Muller. "In 2000, we set out to establish a super sports car business from scratch with a global distribution, and we achieved that. Over the years, we undertook some daring ventures that left their marks on the company which in turn contributed to today's demise."
"I will relentlessly endeavour to resurrect Spyker as soon as practically possible and, assuming we will be successful, pursue our goal to merge with a high performance electric aircraft manufacturer and develop revolutionary electric Spykers with disruptive sustainable technology."
We say good luck to Spyker on its ambitious future aspirations, and, as its Latin axiom proclaims, "Nulla tenaci invia est via" – "For the tenacious no road is impassable."
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