The Dutch company Spyker — a resurrected form of the automotive and aircraft company that used the name back in the 1920s — is planning to release an all-electric version of the company’s D12 Peking-to-Paris concept car (revealed all the way back in 2006) in 2017, according to recent reports.
The company will be unveiling the new electric SUV at the upcoming 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, going by recent comments made by Volta Volaré CEO and founder Paul Peterson to Motor Authority. Following financial issues, Spyker merged with the American electric-aircraft startup Volta Volaré last year.
Volta Volaré (along with its partners) will be supplying the Spyker with the electric powertrains to be used in its electric vehicles. It’s an interesting twist of fate (and also of intent, of course), as the original Spyker firm, active roughly a century ago, was also involved in both the automotive and aircraft industries. Hopefully the modern incarnation won’t go bankrupt, as the original did in 1926.
Green Car Reports provides some background, and further details:
The history of the modern incarnation of Dutch brand Spyker is a short but troubled one. After launching in 2000 with a sports car called the C8, Spyker made the costly error of entering Formula One. It then made an even costlier error of trying to save Saab, which ultimately still went under and saw its assets sold off to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS).
…According to the report, Spyker plans to transition to a full line electric car brand. Every model, from a base sports car dubbed the B6 Venator to the recently revealed C8 Preliator sports car to a planned C12 flagship supercar–as well as the aforementioned SUV–will reportedly offer the choice of conventional internal combustion or battery-electric powertrains.
…Part of the technology portfolio is said to include an electric motor weighing just 32 pounds but delivering upwards of 680 pound-feet of torque.
Volta Volaré, based in Portland, Oregon, will use this electric motor in a private aircraft to be sold under the new SpykerAero brand. Volta Volaré plans to initially launch extended-range electric aircraft since current battery technology is still too heavy for pure, battery-electric aircraft.
The news is doubly notable as a recent proposal was put forward in the Netherlands by a group of politicians to ban new gas and diesel car sales in the country starting in 2025. If a local Dutch firm was mass-producing electric vehicles (EVs) then this plan would probably be far more palatable to many in the country.
Concept Image Credit: Spyker