How's this for a finance scheme? Buy a £100,000 bond from Spyker and the Dutch sports car maker will give you first dibs on its new mid-engined B6 Venator, a car that doesn't exist yet. So far we've seen a concept for coupe and cabriolet versions of this car, but Victor Muller's firm is now raising the money to build it. The 100 so-called Spyker Venator Bonds will bring in £10 million, accelerating development to the point that it'll go on sale next year, according to a spokesman.
Distinctively Spyker but what's underneath?
What he wouldn't confirm to us is what the car will be based on and whose engine it'll use. We're wondering if it's a Lotus Evora under there - a mid-mounted transverse V6 engine sounds familiar and Spyker's quoted 375hp-plus should be achievable with the Toyota engine, currently running 350hp in the Evora S. It also uses an 'all aluminium platform' (Spyker's words) and the quoted kerbweight of 'under 1,400kg' equates to the 1,383kg Lotus claims for an unladed Evora, even if the Spyker will be carbon bodied. The Venator's wheelbase is 75mm shorter than the Evora's but the overall length of 4,347mm is only 3mm off that of the Lotus. We got a brusque "no comment" from the spokesman when we put forward this theory.
But if so we're looking forward to it even more. Spyker raised its game visually with the B6 concepts, both inside and out, and using the Evora as a donor would put it on a sound footing dynamically.
Spyder version also announced
The company, which still makes the
C8
, had big plans last year after Muller had picked himself up from trying to resurrect Saab, and he told PistonHeads to expect a production version of the
Peking to Paris SUV
this year. Separately, the company is also planning to build premium cars with Chinese maker Youngman using the uncompleted Saab Phoenix platform.
You don't have to buy a B6 Venator with your bond money, but Muller says that those who do will get a "first-edition car featuring a special exterior / interior colour scheme and badging". Or you can let it mature and after four years the 7.5 per cent annual interest on the bond will net you £30,000, according to Spyker. Spyker says the cars will be sold at a "minimum" of £125,000 (a sharp increase from the $125,000 mentioned last year) so we guess that's your incentive. Early cash-in to buy a car for the same amount as you'd get back three years later (assuming it will be launched in 2015). Welcome to Muller's man-maths masterclass!