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 £180k supercar has caused quite a stir. Visit the museum's website for more information.
Final pic: Chris Hammond - Hammond Agency