Spyker targets sales boom with new C8 Aileron supercar

Spyker Cars NV, the Dutch supercar maker that acquired Sweden’s Saab Automobile, aims to raise annual vehicle sales sevenfold in two years with the new 198,000-euro ($240,000) C8 Aileron model.

Spyker is targeting deliveries of 250 C8 Ailerons in 2012, Peter van Rooy, the company’s sales manager, said in an interview at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Zeewolde, Netherlands. Spkyer sold 36 cars last year and has delivered a total of 214 vehicles since 2002.

The expansion contrasts with plans by Fiat SpA’s Ferrari brand to keep production at 2009 levels and eliminate jobs. Spyker is reducing the cost of making the C8 Aileron by shifting production to supplier CPP Manufacturing Ltd. in Coventry, England, while targeting U.S. drivers by offering an automatic transmission, Van Rooy said.

“This car is much more comfortable and more modern,” Van Rooy said. “It won’t be bought as an owner’s sixth or seventh collector’s item. People will probably be putting more miles on this one.”

The first C8 Aileron delivered will be a tailor-made, 260,000-euro silver-and-white model with turquoise leather seats, to be handed over in late July to a Russian billionaire, Van Rooy said, declining to identify the buyer.

The model’s automatic-transmission option will be key to winning over American, Russian, Chinese and Middle Eastern drivers, who favor the technology over the manual version, Van Rooy said. The company didn’t offer automatic gearboxes in previous models, he said.