In an era where the hypercar establishment has collectively decided that the future is silent, battery-powered, and algorithmically managed, a small Dutch company has just done something gloriously anachronistic. Spyker has returned with the C8 Preliator XXV, an 800-horsepower machine that sends its power to the rear wheels through a manual gearbox, and it makes absolutely no apologies for refusing to read the room.

The automotive industry has spent the better part of a decade telling us that the manual transmission is dead, that the naturally aspirated engine is a relic, and that hybrid assistance is the only responsible path forward for anything with more than 500 horsepower. Every major manufacturer has dutifully fallen in line, churning out dual-clutch, electrified, torque-vectored masterpieces that are undeniably fast and undeniably sanitised. Spyker, a company that has been declared dead more times than a comic book villain, has looked at this landscape and responded with three pedals and a supercharged Audi-sourced V8.

Three Pedals and a Supercharged V8

There is something almost subversive about it. The Preliator XXV — the name references Spyker’s 25th anniversary — takes the bones of the company’s existing C8 architecture and injects it with a level of performance that would have seemed absurd when the original car debuted. The 789-hp figure reported by some outlets and the 800-hp claim from others likely reflect different measurement standards, but the headline is the same: this is a genuinely potent machine, and it arrives with a stick shift. In 2024, that combination is not just rare; it is practically extinct.

What makes Spyker’s defiance so compelling is that it comes from a company with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Spyker has never been a volume manufacturer. It has always been a boutique operation building cars for people who wanted something stranger, more ornate, and more wilfully idiosyncratic than anything from Maranello or Sant’Agata.

Aviation Cues and Rose Gold

The C8 Preliator has always been a curious blend of aviation-inspired design cues, exposed mechanical details, and an interior that looks like it was furnished by a particularly flamboyant jeweller. The XXV continues that tradition, reportedly featuring lashings of rose gold and the kind of attention to detail that makes a Ferrari look almost mass-produced.

But the real story here is philosophical. Spyker’s CEO has been refreshingly candid about the company’s position: there are no plans for a hybrid variant, and certainly no plans for an EV. While everyone else is racing to electrify, Spyker is doubling down on the visceral, the analogue, and the mechanical. This is not a company chasing regulatory compliance or fleet emissions targets. This is a company building perhaps a few dozen cars a year for people who genuinely believe that the interaction between driver and machine matters more than a 0-60 time measured in tenths of a second.

Rebellion, Not Nostalgia

There is a temptation to dismiss this as nostalgia, as a cynical play for the attention of purists who lament the good old days. But that reading misses the point. Spyker is not building a retro car. The Preliator XXV is not a pastiche of a 1960s GT. It is a thoroughly modern machine that simply refuses to accept that modernity requires the elimination of driver engagement. The manual gearbox is not there because Spyker couldn’t source a dual-clutch; it is there because Spyker believes that the act of changing gear is part of the pleasure of driving. The V8 is not there because electrification is impossible; it is there because the noise and character of a combustion engine have value that cannot be measured in efficiency figures.

This is rebellion, but it is rebellion of a very specific kind. Spyker is not trying to overthrow the established order or convince the world that everyone should be driving manual V8 supercars. The company is simply asserting that there is room in the market for something different, something that prioritises sensation over specification. In a world where every new hypercar feels compelled to justify itself with Nürburgring lap times and electric-only range figures, Spyker’s refusal to play that game is quietly radical.

Whether the C8 Preliator XXV succeeds commercially is almost beside the point. Spyker has never been about volume. It has been about building cars that feel special, that look like nothing else on the road, and that remind us that the automobile is not merely a transportation appliance. The fact that the company has returned from the brink yet again, this time with an 800-hp manual V8 and a defiantly old-school philosophy, is cause for celebration. In a conformist era, Spyker is the glorious exception.

過去十年，整個汽車工業不斷告訴我們：手動波箱已死，自然吸氣引擎是恐龍遺物，而任何超過500匹的機器，唯一負責任的出路就是混合動力輔助。各大車廠亦乖乖歸隊，爭相推出雙離合、電氣化、扭矩矢量分配的大作，快是無可否認地快，但同時也無可否認地——被馴化了。至於Spyker，一家被宣告死亡次數比漫畫反派還要多的公司，看完整個大勢之後，它的回應是：三塊腳踏，加一副Supercharged Audi V8。

三塊腳踏，加一副Supercharged V8

這件事幾乎帶着一種顛覆意味。Preliator XXV——名字源自Spyker成立25周年——沿用品牌現有C8架構的骨幹，再注入一種若在當年原版C8初登場時，根本會被視為荒謬的性能水平。部分外媒報道789匹，另一些則稱800匹，數字差異大概來自不同量度標準，但標題始終一樣：這是一台真正有份量的機器，而且它配手動波箱。來到2024年，這樣的組合已不只是罕見，而是瀕臨絕種。

Spyker這種叛逆之所以引人入勝，在於它來自一家沒什麼可以再輸、卻有Everything to prove的公司。Spyker從來不是走量的車廠，它一直是一家小規模精品操作，專為那些想要更怪、更華麗、更刻意與別不同的人造車——比起Maranello或Sant'Agata的任何出品，它都更偏鋒。

航空元素與玫瑰金

C8 Preliator向來是一種古怪混合體：航空啟發的設計線索、外露的機械細節，以及一個彷彿由特別浮誇珠寶商負責佈置的車廂。XXV延續這個傳統，據報用上大量玫瑰金，細節講究到足以令Ferrari看起來像大量生產。

但真正的重點其實是哲學層面。Spyker行政總裁對公司立場相當坦白：沒有混合動力版本計劃，當然更沒有電動車計劃。當所有人都在鬥快電氣化，Spyker反而加倍押注於感官、模擬與機械。這不是一家追逐法規合規或車隊排放目標的車廠，而是一家每年可能只造幾十台車、賣給那些真心相信「人車互動比0至100快零點幾秒更重要」的人的車廠。

是叛逆，不是懷舊

很容易有人把這件事貶為懷舊，視之為向純粹主義者拋媚眼的憤世嫉俗操作。但這種解讀捉錯用神。Spyker不是在造復古車，Preliator XXV也不是六十年代GT的模仿品。它是一台徹頭徹尾的現代機器，只是拒絕接受「現代化就等於消滅駕駛參與感」這個前提。手動波箱的存在，不是因為Spyker找不到雙離合；而是因為Spyker相信，轉波這個動作本身就是駕駛樂趣的一部分。V8的存在，也不是因為電氣化不可能，而是因為內燃機的聲音與性格，有一種無法用效率數字衡量的價值。

這是叛逆，但屬於非常特定的一種。Spyker不是要推翻現有秩序，也不是要說服全世界都應該開手動V8超跑。它只是主張：市場仍然有空間容納另一種東西，一種把感覺排在規格之前的東西。在一個每台新超跑都被迫用紐布靈圈速與純電續航來證明自己的世界，Spyker拒絕玩這個遊戲，本身就是一種低調的激進。

C8 Preliator XXV在商業上是否成功，幾乎已不是重點。Spyker從來不是關於銷量，而是關於製造一些令人覺得特別的車——在路上一眼認得出，沒有其他車像它，並且提醒我們：汽車不只是交通工具。這家公司再次從懸崖邊回來，這次帶着800匹手動V8與一套 defiantly old-school 的哲學，本身就值得慶祝。在一個崇尚從眾的年代，Spyker就是那個光榮的例外。