2009 Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris

It’s alive! Spyker succumbs to the SUV craze.

Intimidating doesn’t even begin to describe this vehicle. Basically a four-door-sedan version of the Spyker C8, jacked skyward and mounted on enormous 10-spoke wheels with decidedly street-oriented tires, the D12 Peking-to-Paris is no beauty, that’s for sure. But closer inspection reveals some genuinely cool details, including rear-hinged “coach” rear doors, an all-glass roof, polished stainless-steel roof rails, and a lovingly crafted four-passenger interior with diamond-pattern stitching on the leather and a full-length center console with Spyker’s trademark exposed gear mechanisms.

On the other hand, the gaping, ornate grille is the stuff of rap videos, as are the 18 body-side gills and the rear end’s clunky constellation of round taillamps and exhaust tips. If nothing else, it sure will get some attention. And attention is exactly what most people shelling out $309,000 or so for automotive oddities tend to crave.

Like the Spyker C12 Zagato supercar with which it shared the stage in Geneva, the P2P is powered by VW’s 6.0-liter W-12, tuned to produce 493 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. All-wheel drive is standard, which will certainly help the beast get through the rougher parts of the journey it will take this fall as it attempts to retrace the Peking-to-Paris route taken 100 years ago by a 1907 Spyker (yes, Spyker is that old).

On the way, drivers should have plenty of opportunities to test the 0-to-60-mph acceleration, which is said to require just five seconds of one’s life. Top speed is claimed to be 186 mph, something we don’t even want to attempt in such a tall thing.

The first deliveries of the Peking-to-Paris will begin early next year