Spyker
Spyker was a Dutch car manufacturer, started in 1880 by coach builders Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, but to be able to market the brand better in foreign countries, the 'ij' was changed into 'y'.
It was not until 1898 that they started building automobiles. They also manufactured aircraft engines. In 1898 Spyker manufactured the Golden Coach, still in use by the Dutch Queen today, as well as one of the world's first six cylinder engines in the early twentieth century. In 1929 the Spyker manufacturer went bankrupt.
Spyker now is the name of a modern Dutch hand built car, not related to or controlled by the previous Spyker company. The Modern Spyker Car manufacturing Company only has the legal right to the brand. Founders of the reborn company are Victor Muller and Maarten de Bruijn. Spyker is back since the 1990s, building exclusive sports cars like the C8 and the C8 Laviolette. The history of airplane engines is reflected in details returning in these new Spyker cars as well as in the logo. The C8 Laviolette has a 4100cc Audi V8 engine delivering 450 hp and a top speed of 300 km/h.
The new Spyker Car shares are traded on the Amsterdam stock exchange. The IPO was on May 27, 2004, at € 15.50, falling to around € 9 in April 2005. In 2005 the headdesigner Maarten de Bruijn left the company.
Both Spyker brand automobiles appear on Dutch postage stamps (first day of issue: May 10, 2004).
