Cizeta V16T: The V16 Supercar You’ve Never Heard of

A forgotten ’80s and ’90s relic, the Cizeta V16T is a V16 Lamborghini competitor that never made it to the top.

Throughout the history of high-performance cars, there has been no shortage of small companies giving it a go. They always have some crazy high aspirations and a unique design to boot. The Cizeta V16T, though, may just be the wildest of them all. Its wild four-pop-up-headlight front end and seeming blend of the Ferrari Testarossa and Lamborghini Diablo are really just the icing on the cake of this car’s uniqueness. Truly, this is a car that the world missed out on for not having it make it to mass production.

Currently on display at The Petersen Automotive Museum, the Cizeta V16T is a bit of an oddball amongst a display of crazy cars from the ‘80s and ‘90s. This particular example is the prototype model from 1988. It was a treat not only to see it in person, but to get a chance to learn a bit more about this obscure bit of supercar history.

16 Cylinders, A Manual Transmission, and Gorgeous Styling

The V16T is the brainchild of Claudio Zampolli, who founded Cizeta Motors to build a car competitive with Lamborghini and Ferrari. The car’s design comes courtesy of Marcello Gandini, and, quite frankly, it’s a phenomenal-looking design. That’s unsurprising, though, considering Gandini was the original designer of both the Lamborghini Miura and Diablo.

On the surface, it sounds like a winning combo. A beautifully designed Italian-American car with an incredibly unique transversely-mounted V16 powerplant and a manual transmission. Moreover, the Petersen Museum reports that it has an estimated top speed of 214 miles per hour and 540 horsepower. That begs the question: why did this car never make it big in this world?

Why Didn’t the V16T Sell?

The Cizeta V16T entered production in 1991, according to Silodrome. It’s estimated that only about 12 examples were made between 1991 and 1995. In addition, two more were built in 1999 and 2003. Unbelievably, the car was still technically in production as recently as 2018, when the company founder said he could still fulfill orders if they were placed. However, it’s safe to assume that the original 1991 starting price of $650,000 had increased substantially by then. The good news is that they still cost about the same! One fairly recently sold from the dealership that purchased cars for the Sultan of Brunei for $665,000 at RM Sotheby’s.

That price tag, ultimately, is likely the reason for the commercial failure of the V16T. Considering that’s nearly triple the price of an equivalent-year Lamborghini Diablo or Ferrari Testarossa, it was asking a lot. Adding in the unknowns of a new manufacturer didn’t exactly have folks lining up to purchase one. That’s a bit of a pity, because we’d love to see V16Ts cruising around the streets from time to time.

Photos: Braden Carlson