Spyker C8 Aileron

Spyker unveiled its concept Aileron in Geneva a year ago and the Dutch firm has returned in 2009 with a completed production car and the promise of profitability. The Aileron is supposed to represent the company's move into the jet age, the aviation theme of its previous cars being centred around the use of propellers within their design. The Aileron moves this on, riding on wheels styled to represent the turbine blades of a jet engine.

What's all the fuss about?

Spyker might be an old name but it's only been producing cars for around a decade in its current incarnation. The C8 Aileron is claimed to represent something of a new dawn for the firm, the new car riding on a completely new chassis with input from Lotus. As ever the Spyker is Audi powered, the Aileron's 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds achieved thanks to a 400bhp 4.2-litre V8 unit.

Any new technology?

With the C8 Aileron, Spyker can offer its customers an automatic option for the first time. Do so and you won't lose the sensational exposed gearshift that has become a signature of Spyker's interiors. What you do lose inside is Spyker's propeller-inspired steering wheel, instead a more conventional, air-bagged steering wheel featuring. Certain to be a key feature of the way the C8 Aileron drives is chassis input from Lotus, the Hethel firm helping hone the new car's dynamics.

When can I buy one?

We've no doubt that Spyker will happily take a deposit off you for a C8 Aileron, but you'll not get it until after August this year. The official launch will be at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August, where it'll be shown in front of the sort of people for whom the €189-195,000 price tag is small change.

Kyle Fortune