Spyker hocks brand name to get loan

Spyker Cars, the exotic sports car manufacturer, and of late, Formula 1 constructor, appears to be selling its name in order to attain a bank loan. "There was an agreement with Friesland Bank last year and as part of it the name has been pledged, which is quite normal," a Spyker spokesperson said.

However, things may not be quite as normal as Spyker has claimed. A trader from Kempen & Co told Reuters "obviously it is a very bad sign if you have to give away your name to get a loan." Spyker announced its first profit ever in 2006, but is now being rumoured to be in financial trouble once again. "The company is in bad weather and everybody is afraid that the weather is getting worse", another trader from AFS Brokers said.

It seems that a storm really is on its way, with news Spyker shares have declined by as much as 17 per cent on Wednesday. Hoping to add stability, Spyker has just announced the appointment of Michiel Mol as interim CEO of the company, replacing former CEO Victor Muller who departed last week. Mol was previously Director of Forumla One Racing within the management board, and seems to have landed himself in an even bigger challenge than before.

Last year was decent for Spyker even though car sales only increased to 74 from 26 cars in 2005. Production also rose slightly from 48 cars in 2005 to 94 cars in 2006. By the end of the year however, there were 327 cars on the order backlog. We're still amazed to see just how few cars Spyker actually sells.

The upcoming SSUV (super sports utility vehicle), the D12 Peking-to-Paris (pictured), is expected to boost sales, with 182 orders already on backlog before production has even begun.