Posted on Friday 21 December 2007
Dutch supercar company Spyker has had quite a year. After buying a F1 team and joining the backmarkers on the grid, it ran into financial trouble and was forced to refinance the company. The Spyker F1 team was sold to an Indian businessman and Spyker admitted it was unable to build production models of the stunning C12 Zagato supercar. Still, life moves on and their next project is a production version of the D12 sports SUV, which was shown as a concept at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show.
New information from friends at Autoblog.nl indicates the company has decided to change the powerplant for the D12 from the Volkswagen-sourced 6.0L W12 engine to something from America – with engines from GM (~500hp V8 from the ‘vette) or Chrysler (~600hp V10 from the Viper) being the most likely.
The reasons behind the change are two-fold. First, Volkswagen is planning to end production of the W12 sometime in the next couple of years and this would affect production of the D12. In addition, the very low exchange rate of the American dollar makes importing engines very attractive when you’re paying in Euros.
In addition to the SUV, CEO Victor Muller has been quoted as saying the next-generation C8 coupe will likely be powered by an American engine since the Audi 4.2L V8 currently being supplied produces “only” 400hp.