Maarten de Bruijn

Maarten de Bruijn @ Auto(r) 2010 Photo: Laurent Nivalle

Maarten de Bruijn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmaːrtə(n) də ˈbrœyn]; born 1965) is a Dutch engineer.

Born in Naarden, he graduated in 1996 at University of Amsterdam with master's degree in City Planning. 1990-1996 he single-handed designed, constructed and made functional prototype Spyker Silvestris V8. 1999 he co-founded with Victor Muller company Spyker Cars for production of sport cars. Maarten de Bruijn designed and styled Spyker C8 Spyder (2000), Spyker C8 Laviolette (2001), Spyker C8 Double (2002). 2005 he leaves Spyker and co-found company Silvestris Haute Motive Concepts. In 2010 he was a guest speaker at Auto(r) automotive design conference.

De Bruijn is designer, engineer and entrepreneur. He designs, engineers and builds his own vehicles that he subsequently takes into production.

Career

De Bruijn started his career in 1990 with creating a true Dutch sportscar. Not based on anything else but authentic from the ground up. He therefore spent years developing a lightweight mid-engined sportscar prototype. He reregistered the old Dutch brand name Spyker and called the car Spyker Silvestris V8.

Victor Muller became his launching customer in 1999. In Coventry UK De Bruijn further finessed the design and setup production next door to a small sheet metal workshop CPP. In two years he designed and built three models based on his prototype; the Spyker C8 Spyder; the Spyker C8 Laviolette and the Spyker C8 Double Twelve.

De Bruijn's Spyker C8 Spyder won the Design Award for Engineering Excellence at the 2000 Birmingham Motor Show.

Victor Muller became 50% shareholder of Spyker Automobielen bv and CEO of the company in 2001.

De Bruijn left Spyker and sold his shares in 2005. He started a new venture with two former Spyker employees; this company was called Silvestris Aquamotive. Now De Bruijn designed an exclusive aluminium speedboat with an innovative construction method which he patented. Based on automotive and aircraft technology, the boat featured an aluminium spaceframe on which the aluminium skin was bonded and rivetted. This created a very strong and straight hull. The boat also carried exclusive features like an interior that could completely disappear on the click of a button; the benches tilted forward and the dashboard dropped downwards and so it sealed the boat entirely.

In 2007, De Bruijn became rewarded nominee for the 'Maritime Innovation Award' for the construction method of the Silvestris boat. A few boats were built until the recession hit in 2009. In 2014 Maarten de Bruijn sold his Silvestris Boat design to Aston Martin. Aston Martin build a few prototypes of the Aston Martin AM37 boat but never made its way to production. The design features of De Bruijn's Silvestris boat are clearly recognizable in the final design and the design drawings of the Aston Martin boat  AM37. Dutch design in a pure British boat concept.

In 2010, inspired by the very exciting Segway he started working on creating a small but exciting electric personal vehicle called the Qugo in 2010. Although the Qugo had three wheels to keep it up right, it used a unique tilting mechanism that was patented. Therefore, the Qugo could carve like you were skiing and was fun to drive.

De Bruijn wins first prize at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed Cartier Award in 2011 in Class 'Come Back Kids' for successfully reviving an old brand, Spyker Cars.

In 2012, De Bruijn designed and built a few alternative vehicles like a high end three wheeled wheelchair with an innovative suspension construction which increased the level of comfort and maneuverability hugely. De Bruijn sold the idea to a large Dutch company in wheelchairs but they never launched it.

2018, This more than 25 years knowledge and experiences gave De Bruijn a head start with the engineering of a successor to his earlier cars. He missed the art of building cars and besides the Spyker company had slowly fallen into receivership after he had left the company. Since he still owned all the rights to the early Spyker designs, he went back to the drawing board to pick up where he had left.

In 2021 he set up a new automotive company with two partners Wouter van Everdingen en Niek van Exel. The brand this time carries his own name deBruynCars. In nearly 25 years De Bruijn brings his own cars to the market for the second time.

May 2023 De Bruijn launches his new "deBruyn" car: deBruyn FEROX V8. This is also synonymous to Silvestris and means 'fiery'. This new model is the next level of the Spyker C8 Spyder. Completely re-engineered and closer to the original vision: Natural aspirated V8 in a handcrafted true lightweight aluminium roadster-body, with a stunning "De Bruijn design- signature".  Instead of the old Audi 4.2 V8, the FEROX has a spectacular 6.2 V8.