Spyker officially declared bankrupt, put into receivership

The specialty car maker applied for bankruptcy protection earlier this month and had hoped to secure funding so that it could pay its employees and creditors, as well as continue development of its "entry-level" B6 Venator coupe (below) and spyder.

According to Spyker, the company's administrator requested a change of status from temporary bankruptcy protection to bankruptcy as "the committed bridge funding did unfortunately not reach the company in time".

Despite the curtain being drawn closed on this chapter of Spyker's history, company founder Victor Muller maintained an upbeat tone.

"None of the ambitions we had when we founded Spyker 15 years ago, has vanished as a result of today’s events," he said. "In 2000 we set out to establish a super sports car business from scratch with a global distribution and we achieved that. Over the years we undertook some daring ventures that left their marks on the company which in turn contributed to today's demise."

Some of the "daring ventures" alluded to by Muller include the purchase of the Midland F1 team in 2006 and the acquisition of Saab from GM in 2010.

Neither of these dalliances with the motoring big time worked out well for Spyker. The F1 team was sold off at the end of the 2007 season.

In 2011 Saab went under as GM was unwilling to share the platforms underpinning the 9-5 sedan and 9-4X SUV with the Swedish brand's Chinese suitors. A US$3 billion ($3.7 billion) lawsuit launched by Spyker against GM was dismissed earlier this year.

Muller continued by stating a desire to restart Spyker at some stage: "I will relentlessly endeavour to resurrect Spyker as soon as practically possible and, assuming we will be successful, pursue our goal to merge with a high performance electric aircraft manufacturer and develop revolutionary electric Spykers with disruptive sustainable technology."