Spyker cars relocates its vehicle assembly lines to the UK

[mrobin33]

Not quite sure what I think yet - as an Englishman in NY with a Spyker!!

I bought the Spyker for all its characteristics as a drivers car, a piece of art, and an engineering accomplishment. It being Dutch added to its uniqueness and gave it some novelty value as just nobody expects you to say its from Holland....!

I also have a Bentley (Arnage - so made the old way without the VW engine), and a couple of Corvettes (visited their factory too). All are partly chosen because they are designed and built by enthusiasts not accountants.

Given the majority of parts are co-engineered, designed and made in the UK, and the increasing collaboration with Lotus it does make some sense to relocate assembly there; as clearly the economics have to change significantly for long term viability of the company. The Spyker heritage is still Dutch. As for the Audi engine I do hope Spyker look at inserting a Corvette LS7 engine at some point (light, compact, awesome torque).

BTW my Camaro was assembled in Canada.

[Spyker 007]

i know i do not have to get into the business side of why this happened... Most owners are financially educated enough to know why certain business decisions have to be made, it's not personal it's business, it is also not necessarily permanent.

Sony laid off 2,000+ employees yesterday, other manufacturers have let countless factories go, as well as employees...

Keep up the passion in the brand, we will all look back at this as a stepping stone...

Having seen this brand through good times and bad, i assure you it is not the end of spyker...

well stated:d

+1!

:d

[Mattjs33]

...BTW my Camaro was assembled in Canada.

As was my Firebird!

It's the man behind the cars, his design, his ideas and the flavor with which he wants to infuse them, that is really what it's all about. As long as Mr. Muller is in charge, Spykers will be Dutch. Are Boxsters less German because they're made in Finland? Are Moslers less American because the chassis are made in England? How about the Lotus engine in the old ZR-1 Corvette, or the Porsche engine in the Harley-Davidson V-Rod? And no matter how people try to convince me, an Accord built in Ohio is still a Japanese car to me.

[amzamz]

..

...the manufacturing in the UK will not change the design or the spirit (specs) of a Spyker. However, I did appreciate the Dutch way of handbuilt cars on my #045, or better #0045. England has a great history of small sports cars companies. They also come with great spirit and adrenaline... take TVR, Lotus or AC. Whether they were reliably assembled, I am not so sure... ask owners of Jaguar E-types, MGBs or the like... I suspect, Spyker will have to implement harsh quality control on parts and assembly to keep standards high! And also the survival time of British brands was limited... a beer after work was probably more important than doing the finances! England is great for starting something, you can get great money, great enthusiasm and great employees....but it is not so good for keeping a business for long... I have experience in that in my research lab.

For reliability and cost effectivenes, I would currently clearly favour South Korea as a location! Spyker corp. should have asked me before deciding

[Swisstrader]

more articles:

Spyker Relocates To Coventry | The Truth About Cars

[Dutchdude]

...the manufacturing in the UK will not change the design or the spirit (specs) of a Spyker. However, I did appreciate the Dutch way of handbuilt cars on my #045, or better #0045. England has a great history of small sports cars companies. They also come with great spirit and adrenaline... take TVR, Lotus or AC. Whether they were reliably assembled, I am not so sure... ask owners of Jaguar E-types, MGBs or the like... I suspect, Spyker will have to implement harsh quality control on parts and assembly to keep standards high! And also the survival time of British brands was limited... a beer after work was probably more important than doing the finances! England is great for starting something, you can get great money, great enthusiasm and great employees....but it is not so good for keeping a business for long... I have experience in that in my research lab.

For reliability and cost effectivenes, I would currently clearly favour South Korea as a location! Spyker corp. should have asked me before deciding

I totaly agree.
Hopefully CPP has no open storage and a cleaner and healthier workplace than TVR.





I took these photo's a few weeks before closing of the TVR Factory.

[Swisstrader]

I totaly agree.
Hopefully CPP has no open storage and a cleaner and healthier workplace than TVR.

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[ATTACH]5894[/ATTACH]

I took these photo's a few weeks before closing of the TVR Factory.

Those are not cars, they are clay sculptures!!...truly works of art...should be in the freakin smithsonian or guggenheim.

[Dutchdude]

Those are not cars, they are clay sculptures!!...truly works of art...should be in the freakin smithsonian or guggenheim.

Oh Yes, eventually it will be a race car with 400HP , 0 to 60 miles in 3,6 sec. (after 180 hours of scrape/shaping)

[Cabooze]

any updates?

[IVR007]

SPYKER PRODUCTION GETS UNDERWAY IN UK
PH checks out the progress of Coventry's surprise star



Back in November PistonHeads reported that Netherlands low-volume supercar manufacturer Spyker was relocating production to the UK, and two months on production is underway at the CPP Manufacturing's facility in Coventry.

CPP (Coventry Prototype Panels) has a long relationship with Spyker. According to company boss Brendan O'Toole they produced the first C8 prototype back in 2000 for the NEC Motorshow, and have been producing the body and chassis parts for Spyker cars ever since. Now CPP's 110 mostly locally-based workforce (rising to 150 by the end of the year) has been tasked to take parts from all Spykers various suppliers and build the cars in-house, so each C8 Aileron will leave the factory ready for sale.



"We plan to produce 158 cars this year," Brendan told PH when we called for an update. "Early in the year each car is taking three to six weeks, but by the second part of year we should be producing four or five a week." The intention is to scale up production further, and Brendan hopes eventually to get to 4-500 cars per year.

For now, the factory is mainly producing the C8 Aileron coupe (pictured above), but the Spyder version seen at Pebble Beach last summer is now in the latter stages of development, and should enter production later this year.



"We're able to feed back to Spyker at every stage of development and production. For everything to work perfectly we need to talk to each other - this really is an excellent way to produce a low volume car, and we're proud to be a part of it," says Brendan.

The long-awaited Spyker SUV project seen in concept form last year also seems to be alive and well. "At least for the first quarter we really have to concentrate on the Aileron, but the SUV is in the pipeline," says the CPP boss.



Coventry-born O'Toole also sees Spyker as a valuable asset to the Midlands. "This city is going to love Spyker," he says. "Coventry might not have mass production anymore, but it's the perfect place to build niche cars."

To celebrate CPP winning the contract, Coventry Transport Museum has borrowed a previous generation C8 Spyder as a temporary exhibit for the next six weeks. According to the museum's head of PR Clive Skelhon, they hope other Spykers will be making guest appearances in the future, as the Ł180k supercar has caused quite a stir. Visit the museum's website for more information. (as I mentioned, I think the car at CT museum is #154)
pistonheads

[Reddingius]

But what if they succeed in buying Saab? In that case it would probably be cheaper for Spyker to have production take place in Sweden..

[Mattjs33]

Wasn't production of the old SWB C8 supposed to remain in Zeewolde?

Spyker verrast medewerkers met productieverhuizing - Autonieuws - Telegraaf.nl [24 uur actueel, ook mobiel] [Autotelegraaf]

So, when I understand this correctly, only the aileron will be produced in the UK, and the production of the SWB will remain in Zeewolde

It was also my understanding that the old C8 would remain in production for a time as demand warrants. Yet there is no mention in this latest press release about that. Besides which, if CPP makes the panels for the old C8 also, why not also build that in Coventry?

[IVR007]

Wasn't production of the old SWB C8 supposed to remain in Zeewolde?
It was also my understanding that the old C8 would remain in production for a time as demand warrants. Yet there is no mention in this latest press release about that. Besides which, if CPP makes the panels for the old C8 also, why not also build that in Coventry?

This is not a press release, but an interview with CPP, so in a way this not official (not spyker's statement). I think the C8 indeed will remain to be build in Zeewolde. I guess we'll have to wait until half year results of 2009..

[ReducedSpeedAhead]

the current SWB model will continue to be built in NL, since the factory is set there for it. Aileron was moving to CPP, as they had been instrumental in building the first running and driving Aileron's... Also with the estimated increase in demand for the cars, there is more room @ CPP to build the new cars.

Also CPP no longer makes panels for the current C8 models, the yare made @ Karmann....

[IVR007]

Since in a way CPP has become a part of the Spyker factory, I looked into CPP.
Some pics in CPP of Spykers.


Carsuk.com wrote this about CPP:

'A company run by MD Brendan O’Toole it has in-house what are considered to be one of the best skill sets in the UK'

They have been there all along with Spyker since 2000, when they produced the first prototype of the C8 spyder for the NEC motorshow. The SSUV and Zagato were also built by CPP, and as you know the C8 swb is produced by CPP (assembled in the NL).

They are responsible for an impressive list of (prototype) cars too: lots of Bentleys and recently the AM one 77.
So build quality will be in good hands!

Another benefit: Coventry used to be sort of the Detroit of the UK, but the car industry left the country for a big part. With Spyker coming to England, it could make English people proud of the product and effectively augmenting the home market.