2006 brought new surprises from Spyker. The first surprise came early in the year at the Geneva Auto Show. There Spyker unveiled an unusual addition to their range: an all-terrain "Sports Utility Vehicle" (SUV) named D12 Peking-to-Paris. Like the Double 12 and the LaTurbie this names refers to a historic Spyker racing achievement, in this case the most important one: the second place in the legendary and gruelling 1907 Peking to Paris marathon race for a Spyker car. Since this race was more of an adventure crossing dirt roads, mountain passes and exotic territories it suits an all-terrain vehicle to bear its name.
Obviously, after the runaway success of the Porsche Cayenne and luxury SUVs by most of the premium brands, especially in the US, it isn't strange anymore that a sportscar manufacturer introduces a car like this. There is a lot of money to be made in this new segment while it's still forming. And Spyker is ambitious enough to fight for a part of it.
This D12 was however a concept and not an available model, though orders for it would be taken. Spyker planned to introduce the production model late in 2007.

Until the D12 the new Spyker range was based on the designs of Maarten de Bruijn, who had parted with Spyker in 2005. For the D12 a new designer was contracted, a Dutchman named Michiel van de Brink. He created a design which combined sportscar shapes in the vein of other Spyker models with typical SUV characteristics like high ground clearance, big wheels, a large body and a spacious interior. It credits him that the end result is rather attractive. Where most SUV models are rather boxy the D12 is shapely with a flowing, coupe-like rear end. A reason for Spyker to use the phrase Super Sports Utility Vehicle to describe this car.
In production form the D12 may be powered by the 12-cylinder Audi unit which also appears in the C12 LaTurbie model. This 6-litre engine will provide about 500 hp and 610 Nm torque. It should propel this 1850 kg car to a top speed of 295 kph. The car measures 4.95 x 2.00 x 1.77 metres (length x width x height).
Inside the D12 the plush and bright interior customary for a Spyker is featured. It's a full four-seater with a comfortable entrance for all inhabitants by remarkable "suicide doors". A high central beam between the seats provides additional rigidity to compensate for the large door openings at the sides.
(picture by Nicolas Meunier, used with permission)

Another big surprise was the Spyker Formula 1 car. In September 2006 Spyker announced it had acquired Midland F1 Racing located in Silverstone, UK. This outfit ran 2 cars in the Formula 1 championship and was formerly known as Jordan Grand Prix. Rapidly the Spyker name and the orange Dutch national racing colors appeared on the F1 cars for the remainder of the season.
In general there were two main reasons for Spyker to buy Midland F1 Racing. First the presence in F1, the most prominent and important of all racing categories, could do a lot for the familiarity and reputation of the Spyker name which would make selling expensive high performance cars a bit easier. Another reason was that there was already an affluent Dutch financial backer participating in Midland F1 Racing who had introduced Dutch driver Christijan Albers to the team. This simplified the connection between Spyker and Midland F1 and made the acquisition affordable, being a sort of joint-venture between Spyker and the financial backer.
An additional reason for participating in F1 is of course the dream of creating a legend, similar to that of Ferrari. Hardly realistic anymore for a minor manufacturer of course, but never the less an inspiring ambition.

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