Spyker Rises From the Dead and Announces an 800-HP Twin-Turbo V8
Twice bankrupt but still building. This is Spyker’s wildest comeback yet, and it’s pure, unfiltered combustion.
In a world drowning in batteries, software bloat, and autonomous driving, Spyker has decided to do the exact opposite. No hybrid. No mild-hybrid trickery. No electrified nonsense. They are hand-building a Dutch supercar with a twin-turbo V8 and rear-wheel drive. That’s the news of the year.
Here’s everything we know so far.
When and Where
Mark your calendar for Friday, August 14, 2026. The new Spyker C8 Preliator will debut at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, held at Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel Valley, California. The car carries chassis number 270, and it’s the centerpiece of Spyker’s return.
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Spyker also plans to showcase heritage cars from across the brand’s history, while pointing to where the company is headed next.
Between now and August, Spyker plans to drip-feed the story. Muller, CEO of Spyker, has said the company will spend the next four months sharing the development journey of the new C8 Preliator, along with highlighting the brand’s history and legacy.
A Brand That Just Refuses to Die
If you don’t know Spyker, here’s the short version.
The original company was founded in 1880 by two Dutch brothers, Hendrik-Jan and Jacobus Spijker. They were blacksmiths who became coachbuilders. They built carriages for the Dutch Royal Family. Later, they built one of the first production cars in the world to use a six-cylinder engine.
The original Spyker shuttered in 1926 after World War I because it ran out of money.
Then in 1999, a Dutch businessman named Victor Muller revived the name and started building hand-assembled supercars. Exposed gear linkages you could watch shift. Propeller-spoke wheels. Interiors that looked more like Swiss watch movements than dashboards. The cars include the C8 Spyder, Laviolette, Aileron, and Preliator — they were genuinely beautiful.
Then the company fell apart because the money problem came back. Twice.
Spyker bought Saab from GM in 2010, watched Saab collapse in its hands, and filed for bankruptcy itself in 2014. It came back in 2015. It went down again in 2021. By the late 2010s, most of us had quietly assumed Spyker was a closed chapter.
But Muller is nothing if not stubborn. In October 2025, he reached a legal settlement that handed him back all of Spyker’s intellectual property. And now six months later, we’re finally getting the payoff.
The New C8 Preliator: 800 HP, Twin Turbos, Zero Batteries
Here’s where it gets fun.
In late April 2026, Muller dropped a teaser video on Spyker’s official channels and confirmed the new C8 Preliator. It will be a twin-turbocharged V8 making 800 horsepower. Top speed would be north of 217 mph (350 km/h).
For comparison, the original 2016 C8 Preliator made 518 hp from a supercharged 4.2-liter Audi V8. So the new one is almost 300 horsepower more.
What the company has been crystal clear about, though, is no electrification. In 2026, that’s almost defiant. And honestly, it’s exactly what the analog faithful want to hear.
What the Car Probably Looks Like
Spyker hasn’t shown the body yet. The teaser footage hints at a two-seat convertible, aluminum construction to keep weight under control, and a mid-mounted engine, sticking with the original Preliator. That’s it for visuals so far. The full body reveal is being saved for The Quail.
The company’s project and manufacturing lead is heading the build, putting together a team that mixes the original specialists from the brand’s early days with new high-skilled people brought in for this project.
The build itself spans two countries. The car is painted in the UK, then shipped to Lijnden in the Netherlands, where the team handles final finishing. From there, it flies to California for the reveal at The Quail.
Pricing and Availability
No official pricing yet. But given the chassis numbering, the hand-built nature of the operation, and Spyker’s history of building maybe a handful of cars per year, expect production to be tightly limited and pricing firmly in seven-figure territory.
If you have to ask, you’re probably not on the list.
The Takeaway
The supercar world is choking on its own technology. Every new hypercar has 1,500 horsepower, four-figure torque numbers, and a price tag in the millions. They’re faster than any human being can actually drive on a road. They’re heavier than they should be. Most of them carry huge batteries. And they all kind of look the same.
Spyker has never been about chasing others. It’s been about craftsmanship, story, and presence. You can see the gear linkage move when you shift. The toggle switches click like real switches. The shape of the car was drawn because someone liked how it looked, not because a computer told them it was the fastest. You can feel that a real person built the car.
Spyker has spent 25 years proving it. And on Friday, August 14, 2026, at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, they’re going to prove it again.
