Cizeta

Cizeta Automobili SRL is a car manufacturer in the U.S. and one time headquartered in Modena, Italy, set up in the late 1980s by Claudio Zampolli, an Italian auto engineer, and Lamborghini driver, and the record producer Giorgio Moroder.

Cizeta Automobili
TypePrivate
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1988
HeadquartersFountain Valley, California, United States
Key people
ProductsHand-built cars
Revenue109 million
WebsiteCizeta

History

The name "Cizeta" comes from the Italian pronunciation of co-founder Claudio Zampolli's initials (C.Z.). Moroder became involved into the project when he took his Lamborghini Countach for a service at Zampolli's garage. Their only product, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T, featured a technically advanced transverse-configured sixteen-cylinder engine. Styled by Marcello Gandini, the body was strikingly similar to the later Lamborghini Diablo's as Gandini first proposed the design to the then Chrysler-owned Lamborghini, which altered the concept significantly. Gandini then brought the original Diablo design to Cizeta. The prototype was the only car to carry the "Cizeta-Moroder" badge, as Giorgio Moroder pulled out of the Cizeta project in 1990. The prototype remained with Giorgio Moroder for over thirty years, when, in early 2022, he sold it.[1]

Cizeta-Moroder V16T

No production Cizeta was ever badged "Cizeta-Moroder" but merely "Cizeta V16T". Only 8 cars were built before the shutdown of the firm in 1994. Subsequently, 3 more cars were completed (two more coupe, and one spyder) in 1999 and 2003.

Refoundation

Mr. Zampolli moved to the US after the company went bankrupt in Italy and set up a new company in California, called Cizeta Automobili USA. He serviced exotic cars and continued to build (on demand) the Cizeta V16T.

On one instance a Cizeta was seized by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on December 7, 2009.[2]

Zampolli died on July 7, 2021, at age 82.[3]

References
  1. "1988 Cizeta-Moroder V16T | Arizona 2022". RM Sotheby's. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  2. Chang, Richard S. (December 10, 2009). "Seizure of Rare Supercar Raises More Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  3. Vaughn, Mark (July 7, 2021). "Claudio Zampolli, Creator of the Cizeta V16T Supercar, Has Died". Autoweek. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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