Spyker Peking to Paris

Weird? Yes. Fun? Definitely

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 7 March 2006 / Loading comments

Some of you don’t get Spyker, we all know it, but meeting boss Victor Mueller and the coolest marketing director for many a year, Han van Rennes, you would leave with nothing but admiration and respect.

You see they know their cars are mental. They also know there are enough people in the world that love them to make the plan work. New dealers are sprouting like mushrooms in a dank cellar, huge investment has come from the Abu Dhabi Royal Family and the C8 sportscar has won countless awards throughout the world. And now they have brought us the Peking-to-Paris, their “Super SUV”.

Peking...

...to Paris

Designed for the uber-rich that want sportscar performance from a truck, the Peking-to-Paris, replete with suicide coach-style doors, looks like someone tried to make a royal carriage from a 911. And it’s a near scary combination of car, plane and luxury yacht, but they’ve taken 90 orders for a car that won’t even hit production until 2007.

The 6-litre W12 engine is mid-mounted, produces 500bhp and propels this 1895kg all-aluminium leviathan to 60mph in five seconds. It’ll do 185mph, too, although braking from that speed, even with AP Racing ceramic brakes that’s probably a whole new story.

There’s more leather on the interior than you’ll find in a DFS warehouse and more mirrors than on Julio Iglesias’ ceiling. It’s over the top in every single sense, but it’s good to see a company like Spyker not just surviving, but thriving.

The Dutch marque also bought the 500bhp C12 Laturbie sportscar, which is far more of a PistonHeads type creation. Now this thing does 60mph in 3.9s and tops out at 196mph. More importantly it weighs in at 1525kg and is much closer to the ground, so won’t slop round in the corners like bathwater.

Watch out for Basic Instinct 2, where the C8 Laviolette takes a starring role, and whatever you think watch out for Spyker – they’re going places.

Nick Hall