Late last year, after a 29-year stint in Sant’Agata Bolognese that defined the modern Lamborghini supercar, Maurizio Reggiani announced his retirement. It marked the end of a legendary career that began in Maserati working on the Biturbo, then Bugatti on the EB110, and finally, with the raging bull for the better part of the last three decades, or so we thought. Today, Reggiani announces that he’s stepping back into the industry, this time as an advisor tasked with helping Eccentrica Cars develop its reinterpretation of the Lamborghini Diablo.
We sat down with Reggiani for a quick chat ahead of this latest announcement. Some responses have been edited for clarity.
“After spending so many years, you are really glued to the business of the super sports car,” says Reggiani. “When I joined Lamborghini, it was in the time of the Diablo SV, and today, to work on a product that is what happened before my arrival at Lamborghini is like closing a big circle that is more or less 30 years of the history of Lamborghini.
Reggiani arrives in a pivotal year for the San Marino-based carmaker. It has been over 12 months since the startup brand unveiled its take on the Lamborghini Diablo, which it defines as a “restomod.” Flash forward a year, and Eccentrica is gearing up to showcase a running and driving vehicle at this year’s The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. It’s at this inflection point, before the reimagined Diablo begins its development cycle, that Reggiani steps in.
“More and more petrolheads want to have this kind of product. There’s more and more of a love of what were the more pure vehicles produced in the last 20, 30 years. It’s clear that people love this, but they wish to have something more actual in terms of design, but also in terms of functionality,” says Reggiani. “The big job is to be able to do something that is coherent with the DNA of the original car but making a kind of refresh. From a technical point of view, it’s saving the purity of the car while allowing for some improvements that are able to solve or minimize the criticisms present at the time when the car was launched.”
Eccentrica is unique in the resto modding world as the first modern company to reinterpret one of Sant’Agata Bolognese’s icons. Working directly with Reggiani, who worked on the Diablo when new, adds a great deal of credibility to the San Marino-based outfit. However, tempting an automotive legend to step out of retirement is no easy task. Thankfully, Reggiani dropped hints regarding what enticed him to return so quickly.
“It’s also a possibility to offer customers something a little bit more wild compared to all the standardization of today,” says Reggani. “Due to the car being born under the homologation rules of the 90s, it’s clear that you can have much more freedom compared to the OEMs today that must launch a completely new car fulfilling all the new regulations that has to be on the market for ten years…Petrolheads, I think, can appreciate something in a segment that is super exclusive but can provide unique emotions…If you talk about a donor car that is a Lamborghini, you’re already in a segment that is at the top of the top.”
While Eccentrica plans to unveil its first running and driving prototype during this year’s Monterey Car Week, Reggani shared that the company aims to begin customer deliveries next summer. When asked about the short development timeline, Reggani responded, “If you remember the time I spent normally developing limited cars like the Sian, like the Countach and the Veneno, we’re talking about a similar timeline… It’s ambitious, but nothing impossible.”
Expect to hear more details about Eccentrica’s first reinterpretation as the year rolls on. However, this latest announcement clearly shows that what already looked like a promising addition to the restomod world has picked up some serious potential with its development now guided by someone that is nothing short of a living automotive legend.
