Sports car maker Spyker on Thursday declared bankruptcy, with the small
Dutch company that once competed in Formula 1 saying it could not stay
afloat after losing a critical legal battle.
The founder of the one-time owner of Sweden's Saab vowed that the bankruptcy was not the end for the company which would return with revolutionary electric cars. "Today the District Court of Middle-Netherlands converted the moratorium of payment granted to Spyker... to bankruptcy," Spyker said in a statement.
Two weeks ago the court gave Spyker a stay of payment to restructure and search for a new credit line to pay its bills, including 152,000 euros ($186,000) in rent it owed on its Zeewolde property in central Netherlands.
Spyker's bankruptcy comes after years of financial struggles, which was exacerbated after it bought flagging Swedish car maker Saab from US-based General Motors in 2010 for $1.5 billion. But two years later Saab filed for bankruptcy when Spyker's last-ditch bid to raise funds in China was nixed by GM over technology transfer issues.
According to the latest figures quoted by Dutch media, Spyker sold three cars in 2012 with a total value of 700,000 euros. The company lost 6 million euros over the same period, according to figures by the Dutch daily NRC.
Founded by two brothers, Jacobus and Hendrik Jan Spyker, in 1880, the company specialised in some of the world's first luxury cars and aircraft engines until 1925, when it ceased trading. Spyker was relaunched in 2000 by its colourful chief executive Victor Muller and the company also saw a brief foray into Formula One and competing at the Le Mans 24 Hours race.
The founder of the one-time owner of Sweden's Saab vowed that the bankruptcy was not the end for the company which would return with revolutionary electric cars. "Today the District Court of Middle-Netherlands converted the moratorium of payment granted to Spyker... to bankruptcy," Spyker said in a statement.
Two weeks ago the court gave Spyker a stay of payment to restructure and search for a new credit line to pay its bills, including 152,000 euros ($186,000) in rent it owed on its Zeewolde property in central Netherlands.
Spyker's bankruptcy comes after years of financial struggles, which was exacerbated after it bought flagging Swedish car maker Saab from US-based General Motors in 2010 for $1.5 billion. But two years later Saab filed for bankruptcy when Spyker's last-ditch bid to raise funds in China was nixed by GM over technology transfer issues.
According to the latest figures quoted by Dutch media, Spyker sold three cars in 2012 with a total value of 700,000 euros. The company lost 6 million euros over the same period, according to figures by the Dutch daily NRC.
Founded by two brothers, Jacobus and Hendrik Jan Spyker, in 1880, the company specialised in some of the world's first luxury cars and aircraft engines until 1925, when it ceased trading. Spyker was relaunched in 2000 by its colourful chief executive Victor Muller and the company also saw a brief foray into Formula One and competing at the Le Mans 24 Hours race.