Industry Automotive Revenue 109 Million Website Cizeta Type of business Private | Products Hand-built Cars Number of employees -- Founded 1988 Ceased operations 1995 | |
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Key people Claudio Zampolli, Giorgio Moroder Headquarters Fountain Valley, California, United States | ||
Cizeta v16 engine sound
Cizeta Automobili srl of Modena, Italy is a car manufacturer set up in the late 1980s by Claudio Zampolli (an Italian Ferrari dealer) and the record producer Giorgio Moroder.
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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 remains with Giorgio Moroder to this day.
No production Cizeta was ever badged "Cizeta-Moroder" but merely "Cizeta V16T". Only 17 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.
Mr. Zampolli moved to the US after the company went bankrupt in Italy and has set up a new company in California, called Cizeta Automobili USA. He currently services exotic cars as well as continuing to build (on demand) the Cizeta V16T.
The V16T is illegal to drive or to even own in the United States because it does not meet emissions and safety standards. One was seized by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on December 7, 2009.