Spyker D12 news - Spyker's D-Day - 2008

Never a company to shy away from a hearty urination into the economic and environmental zeitgeist, Spyker has announced that it is to build a four-seater SUV supercar.

A 500bhp four-seater SUV supercar. A 500bhp four-seater SUV supercar costing around £185,000.

Called the D12 and based on the Paris-to-Peking concept from 2006 (which itself was named after a 1907 across-the-world race in which Spyker finished second, which we think is a rather apt metaphor for the company), the crossover 4x4 will go into production next year with, we’re told, most of the styling cues of the, er, unmissable concept intact.

Equally ununderstated (surely that’s a word?) is the D12’s powerplant: a six-litre W12 taken straight out of the VW Phaeton but fettled up to a mighty 500bhp.

That, says Spyker, is good for a 0-60mph time of around five seconds and a top speed of 186mph. Slightly quicker than a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, then, but at more than double the price you’d expect it to be…

Spyker promises myriad luxury touches, including 24-inch ‘propellor’ alloys (getting a sense of how bloody massive the D12 is yet?), swathes of leather on the inside and a glass canopy similar to that in the C12 Zagato.

Though it might not seem like the most sensible time to launch a giant, carbon-munchin’, eye-wateringly expensive SUV, Spyker says it has over 100 orders confirmed already for the D12, many in North America.

Reckon those punters are regretting their initial enthusiasm yet?