In a release today, Swedish Automobile N.V. ("Swan") announced the possible sale of Spyker Cars, the Dutch supercar brand that Victor Muller parlayed into a purchase of Saab in 2010 and Swan's sole remaining subsidiary. But a sale might not be possible, and Spyker could go down with the ship.
If Swan decides to hold on to Spyker, securing financing to keep the company running would be the only way to save it. With pressure from Saab's bankruptcy administrators to liquidate as much as possible--including a collection of over 100 historic production and concept cars from the brand's Trollhattan museum--holding onto a struggling Spyker may prove impossible.
Previous plans to sell Spyker to CPP Global Holdings and, later, North Street Capital haven't yet produced any final transaction, and may have completely fallen apart, though the company hasn't issued any statements on the deals since last fall.
While the world may not miss Spyker much, it would be yet another tragic tale woven into the failure of Saab in its GM and post-GM eras. Some would argue Saab never really had a lot going for it, despite penning some truly unique, and occasionally iconic, designs and pairing them with sometimes-innovative mechanical features.
Along with the Spyker announcement, Swan revealed four of its supervisory and management board members, Hans Hugenholtz, Maurizio La Noce, Alex Roepers, and Rob Schuijt have resigned, casting deeper shadows over the company's future.
