Spyker Trading Update Third Quarter 2008
ZEEWOLDE, THE NETHERLANDS – October 24, 2008: Spyker Cars N.V.
("Spyker" or "the Company"), manufacturer of exclusive premium sports cars,
today announces the trading update for the third quarter of 2008. The two
most significant developments were the move to line production in Zeewolde
and the launch of the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85
Key developments:
As from September 2nd, Spyker has been
included in the AScX index of Euronext Amsterdam (Amsterdam Small Cap
Index)
Spyker prepared its production line for the SOP (Start of
Production) of the Spyker C8 Aileron, the new long wheel base model with
automatic gearbox. In particular, the production has now been successfully
converted to a 9 cell line production, whilst up to the third quarter, cars
were produced on a stand-alone basis by one team of mechanics. This
transformation of the production process, a long cherished ambition of
Spyker, caused a slight slowdown of the production in Q3 2008, but will
warrant higher levels of production output going forward. In spite of this
important transformation, Spyker still produced and delivered 8 cars in Q3.
This production method could only be introduced now that the supply chain
had been completely restored, following the disruption of last year. The
highly increased efficiency of this system will allow Spyker to raise
production substantially with the introduction of the C8 Aileron and
subsequently D8 Peking-to-Paris with an equal or even improved cost
structure. In Q3 of 2008 the workforce of the Company reached 138
employees (was 133 as per June 30, 2008). Development of the Spyker D8
Peking-to-Paris SSUV is continuously in full progress and the car will go
into production in the second half of 2009. Market demand for this model
remains unabatedly strong. A new EXACT ERP system was successfully
implemented and went live on 1 July, 2008. Various departments, including
finance, procurement, production and sales are now fully integrated,
resulting in benefits for all departments within the company. Spyker
successfully participated in the British Motor Show from July 23 until
August 3 in London with the Spyker C8 Aileron, the Spyker C12 Zagato, the
Spyker C8 Spyder and the Spyker C8 Laviolette. In August, Spyker
introduced the website www.spykercollection.com , a
website completely dedicated to the Official Merchandising of Spyker. Since
merchandising is a spear point in Spyker's expansion strategy, Mr Sander
van Dijk was appointed General Manager of Spyker Events & Branding B.V., as
well as Commercial Manager of Spyker Squadron B.V. On September 23, Ego
Lifestyle B.V. and Spyker signed a license agreement, pursuant to which Ego
will develop, sell and market ultra high-end laptop computers with Spyker
Branding On August 7, the exclusive Spyker distributor in the United
Kingdom, Broughtons of Cheltenham, opened a second dedicated showroom in
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Moreover new dealers were appointed in Chicago
(Steve Foley - Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac) and Tampa, Florida (Elder -
Aston Martin, Jaguar). On August 28, Spyker announced the introduction
of an exclusive limited edition model, the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, of
which 24 examples will be built. The Spyker C8 Aileron made its US
Debut at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 17, 2008. Snoras
Spyker Squadron - the factory GT race team - continued its activities in
the third quarter of 2008 with participation in the Le Mans Series races
and participated in the Omnitel 1000 km endurance race in Palanga,
Lithuania on July 19. After a start from pole position, the factory car won
the Baltic's prime endurance race after nine hours and 333 laps Moreover
Snoras Spyker Squadron participated in the 1000 km of Nürburgring (August)
in which both cars finished 5th and 7th, and the 1000 km of Silverstone
(September) in which the Snoras Spyker Squadron car, with guest driver Tom
Coronel, finished 4th.
Victor R. Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars N.V. says: "We are very pleased
that the production process has successfully been transformed into line
production, which was only feasible now that all the parts and components
are readily available and in stock, a situation we finally achieved in Q3,
after the disruption of 2007. As a consequence, we can further streamline
the production process in preparation of the higher volumes expected when
Spyker C8 Aileron and D8 Peking-to-Paris will be in production. The demand
for the automatic gearbox is such that we have raised the number of
automatic cars to 95% of the forecasted production. Up until now, Spyker
could not service the market for super sports cars with an automatic
gearbox, because the short wheel base models could not be equipped with
such a gearbox. By having an automatic gearbox, we have opened up markets
which were closed to us until now."