Spyker Will Attempt To Return From The Dead, Now With The Original Founder Back In Control

For car enthusiasts of a certain age, Spyker will always have a special place in our hearts. Few have actually seen one in person, much less driven a Spyker, but bonkers styling and one of the coolest shifters ever made go a long way. Sadly, the Dutch supercar company never found the success it so richly deserved, and about a decade ago, it went bankrupt. But wait! What’s that? Spyker’s coming back? Possibly? Based on a new statement posted on Spyker’s website, that’s exactly what they’re going to attempt.

If you were hoping for photos of a new car and a detailed business plan, you won’t find that here. At least not yet. Still, if you’re a Spyker fan who wants to see the weird plane-themed car company make a comeback, this most recent announcement is nothing but good news. That’s because, instead of some random rich person trying to resurrect the name with no real ties to the original company, Spyker founder Victor Muller is leading the comeback effort himself. 

“Spyker founder Victor R. Muller and the trustee in the insolvency of two former Spyker subsidiaries have reached a full and final settlement, pursuant to which each party releases the other of any claims and alleged pledges on the Spyker intellectual property rights for the benefit of the estates have been irrevocably released,” the statement reads.

In the statement, Muller said, “It is with great pleasure that we announce that we have reached an amicable settlement with the trustee of two former Spyker subsidiaries, regarding, among others, the release of pledges on our Spyker trade marks and other IP rights. With this matter finally resolved once and for all, we can now continue to focus on the future of our beautiful Spyker brand and, in particular, the production of meticulously hand-built Spyker super sports cars.”

What that will look like exactly still remains to be seen, but I’m certainly not going to complain about the founder of a truly unique automaker finally being back in control of the company he started. Especially since, back in 2022, Spyker was acquired by some Russians who had no connection to the original company. They also never actually got around to building a car, and what’s the point of owning a car company that doesn’t build any cars? Then again, it isn’t surprising they never did anything with the name. Building cars is hard and expensive, and financing a project like that from Russia can’t be easy. 

The return announcement also includes a shoutout to Jasper den Dopper, founder of the company SpykerEnthusiast, who “has served the Spyker (owners) community consisting of an installed base of over 250 Spykers worldwide with our permission, providing (after-) sales services and undertaking new build projects over the past few years.” Whether or how he’ll be involved in the new version of Spyker going forward also remains to be seen, but hopefully, we get a real effort that leads to an actual car in a few years.

Relaunching a hand-built car company won’t be easy, but I only wish Muller and his team the best. And as Spyker’s motto says, “for the tenacious, no road is impassable.”