Spyker Spyder at Goodwood on Sunday
Dutch supercar maker Spyker, one of the stars of the Festival of Speed last weekend, is going to America -- despite the efforts of the mighty US car industry to stop them.
After two years in the certification process essential for entering the US car market, the company said it has obtained the waivers it requested from the US road safety body, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which marks the final step of the process.
However, we hear from other supercar makers that the US approval process is very political. The US auto industry has enormous financial and political clout, and pressures US law-makers to halt or delay the entrance of foreign - mostly European -- carmakers to its markets. For example, it applied huge pressure to prevent Pagani's Zonda from entering the US because it would compete with Ford's GT. Nothing like a belief in free trade, eh, boys?
Spyker's boss Victor Muller said, “The door to our number one market is now wide open. We foresee a rapid expansion of the distribution network to support American customer demand. We currently have 13 dealers in the USA and strive for nationwide coverage by yearend with approximately 20 dealers. This coming month Spyker of Las Vegas will be opened.”
On 1 March 2005 Spyker announced that it obtained approval for its C8 short wheel base models (Spyder, Spyder T wide body and Laviolette) in the USA by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With the final approval by NHTSA for the last waiver applications these models are now fully US road-legal.
EPA certification of Spyker’s long wheel base models (C8 Double12 S and Double12 Spyder) is expected by this summer.
Good luck to Spyker -- long may the European invasion continue...
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