Cizeta Moroder

The Cizeta-Moroder V16 T is an Italian sports car (built from 1991 to 1995) created by automotive engineer Claudio Zampolli in a joint venture with music composer Giorgio Moroder. It was the only product of the Cizeta company. It was developed by a group of ex-Lamborghini employees.

The V16 T implies that its engine is a V16 unit mounted Transversely in the central rear position, just forward of the rear axle and behind the passenger seats. However, the engine was not a true V16. Rather, it was engineered from the ground up as two flat plane V8s sharing a single block, mounted transversely, with gearing between the two providing a single output from the center of the engine assembly to the longitudinal transmission.

The car was viewed from the beginning as an exclusive supercar, easily capable of topping over 200 mph (320 km/h), top speed was 205 mph (328km/h) and requiring just 4 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (approx. 100 km/h), while at the same time equipped with many luxury features.

The chassis was formed of an aluminium honeycomb structure, wrapped in a sleek body designed by the famed Marcello Gandini, who had previously designed the Lamborghini Countach and some aerodynamic Maseratis (and later the Lamborghini Diablo).

In 1991, the list price for a Cizeta-Moroder was an estimated €250,000 or US$300,000. This price tag made it unviable for most people who had such wealth to buy, due to being produced at the end of the speculator driven supercar price boom, or the fact that buyers rather typically buy established brand names (i.e. Ferrari, Lamborghini) and the subsequent worldwide recession, just like its contemporary and ultra-fast supercars including the McLaren F1. Although predictions for production foresaw one car per week, only eight examples were actually built (from 1991 until the company's demise in 1995). Now the car is still in production (on demand), although again with a large price tag of $649,000, respectively $849,000 for the Spyder TTJ, exclusive of shipping, taxes and extras.