Spyker has returned to The Quail with the C8 Preliator XXV Coupé, a new car intended to begin another chapter for the Dutch marque. The company describes it as a clean-sheet automobile rather than an evolution of the earlier Preliator. Production will be limited to 25 hand-built examples.
Its mid-mounted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 is rated by Spyker at 800 hp and 1,000 Nm, with a claimed top speed above 217 mph. More distinctive than the output figure is the transmission: the XXV uses a true manual gearbox, without paddle shifters or an automated substitute.
The body is hand-formed in aluminum over an extensively redesigned in-house spaceframe. Spyker says each car requires roughly 2,100 hours to build. The cabin follows the same deliberately mechanical approach. A head-up display is the only screen, while the exposed gear linkage remains a centerpiece of the interior.
The launch also carries a corporate message. Spyker presents the C8 Preliator XXV as the first expression of a new era following Volodymyr Nosov's investment and move into co-ownership, together with a strategic partnership with W Group. The company says its next chapter is expected to include development of the D8 Peking-to-Paris SSUV and ambitions to return to GT3 endurance racing.
That makes the XXV more than a nostalgia exercise. It is the first production-focused statement in Spyker's latest attempt to establish a durable future for the marque while keeping the analog character that made its earlier cars unusual.