# Lamborghini Diablo (Diablo, 1990-2001)
Source: https://fullysorted.com/research/models/lamborghini/diablo
Publisher: Fully Sorted (fullysorted.com), collector car research
Last updated: 2026-10-01

## Key facts
- Make: Lamborghini
- Model: Diablo
- Generation: Diablo, 1990-2001
- Years: 1990 to 2001
- Body styles: 2-door mid-engine coupe (fixed roof, scissor doors), 2-door mid-engine Roadster (removable roof panel, VT Roadster and SV Roadster)
- Engines: 5.7-liter V12, naturally aspirated, 485 hp at launch (1990 base car, rear-wheel drive); exact displacement in cc is not stated by the sources consulted; 5.7-liter V12 in SE30 tune, 518 hp (rear-wheel drive, 1993-1996 per classic.com); 5.7-liter V12 in SV tune, 503 hp (rear-wheel drive, 1995-1999 per classic.com); 6.0-liter V12 in VT 6.0 tune, 542 hp (four-wheel drive, 1999-2001); 543 hp in The Drive's figure; 6.0-liter V12 in GT tune, 575 hp (rear-wheel drive, 1999-2001, 83 built)
- Production notes: Lamborghini's own Diablo history page states that when production ended in 2001 no fewer than 2,903 units had been produced. The Drive says only that fewer than 3,000 were built. Wikipedia carries a per-variant list that is approximate: about 900 base cars, about 400 VT, 150 SE30 of which 25 were for the US, about 250 SV, about 200 VT Roadster, 2 SV Roadster, 83 GT, 343 VT 6.0 plus 42 VT 6.0 SE, and 40 GTR. Those lines add up to roughly 2,410, about 490 short of the factory total, and the list does not show where the gap sits (the 6.0 Roadster, the SV and VT variants listed as approximate, and any variants left out are all candidates). Because the factory total and the variant list are not reconciled by any source consulted here, no single total is printed. The GT figure of 83 is the firmest per-variant number: classic.com and Wikipedia agree on it. The SE30 US allocation of 25 cars is also stated twice, by Wikipedia and by a long-running FerrariChat production thread, though the forum is a low-reliability source and is cited only for that single line. A FerrariChat user also puts about 15 rear-wheel-drive 1996 cars in the US market, which no second source confirms and which is not used in the prose. No source consulted gives a US-delivered count for the base car, VT, Roadster, 6.0 or GT, and none gives a US count by model year. Apart from the Momo Edition VT Roadster, the sources are silent on whether the Roadster, GT and 6.0 were sold as new US-market cars; classic.com lists US auction sales of GT and Diablo SV Monterey Edition cars, which shows they are in the US now and not how they got there. The page says so rather than inferring it.

## Summary
The Diablo was Lamborghini's flagship from 1990 to 2001, built to replace the Countach. Its design began as Project 132 in 1985 with styling by Marcello Gandini that Chrysler's design center, by then the majority shareholder, revised. It launched with a 485 hp V12 and a claimed top speed of 203 mph, and a US base price of $239,000 for 1990 per supercars.net. Lamborghini's own history page puts the run at no fewer than 2,903 cars, while Wikipedia's per-variant list adds up to roughly 2,410, and the two are not reconciled here. The line grew into the four-wheel-drive VT, the 150-car SE30 (25 for the US), the SV, the Roadster, the 83-car GT and the 6.0-liter VT of 2000 and 2001. The sources document US-market editions of the SE30, SV, VT and VT Roadster but do not say which other Roadsters, GT and 6.0 cars were delivered new in the US. As of September 2026 classic.com puts the base car near $258,772 to $318,616 depending on the page, the SV at $462,063 and the GT in the millions.

## Specifications
- power: 485 hp (1990 base), 518 hp (SE30), 503 hp (SV), 542 hp (VT 6.0), 575 hp (GT)
- engine: 5.7-liter V12 from 1990, 6.0-liter V12 from 1999; exact displacement in cc not given by the sources consulted
- layout: Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive on base, SE30, SV and GT; four-wheel drive on VT
- torque: Not documented in the sources consulted
- weight: Not documented in the sources consulted
- chassis: Steel tubular space frame with composite and aluminum body panels, per general references; not independently sourced for this page
- top_speed: 203 mph claimed at launch per The Drive
- us_variants: SE30 (25 US cars) and US-only Monterey (SV, 20 cars), Alpine (VT, 12 cars) and Momo (VT Roadster, 12 cars) editions per Wikipedia; other Roadster, GT and 6.0 US-market delivery not documented
- acceleration: Period tests range from 4.4 to 5.9 seconds to 60 mph on the VT and 3.4 to 4.3 seconds on the 2001 VT 6.0 depending on the magazine
- quarter_mile: 13.2 seconds at 109.6 mph (1992 VT, Motor Trend) to 11.8 seconds at 120.9 mph (2001 VT 6.0, Motor Trend)
- transmission: Five-speed manual on the early cars; classic.com lists the 2000 VT 6.0 with a manual and left-hand drive
- factory_total: No fewer than 2,903 per Lamborghini's own history page
- gt_production: 83 built per classic.com and Wikipedia
- us_price_1990: $239,000 base US price per supercars.net
- us_price_1992: $272,935 per The Drive, stated as the launch price of the 1992 model

## Notable variants
- Diablo (base, 1990-1998): The original rear-wheel-drive car with the 485 hp V12 and a US base price of $239,000 for 1990 per supercars.net. classic.com's base-model market runs 1990 through 1998 and, as of September 2026, is the cheapest way into the nameplate.
- Diablo VT (1993-2001): The four-wheel-drive car, the version most buyers actually got. The VT carried through to the 6.0 of 2000 and 2001, which Lamborghini and The Drive treat as the best-developed Diablo.
- Diablo SE30 (1993-1996): 150 built, 25 for the US, 518 hp. The US allocation is the number a collector repeats, and classic.com's SE30 benchmark of $406,000 as of September 2026 reflects it.
- Diablo SV (1995-1999): Rear-wheel drive, 503 hp, the only Diablo with the SV flank decal as a factory option. A 1998 SV Monterey Edition sold for $527,500 in August 2025 per classic.com.
- Diablo GT (1999-2001): 83 built, 575 hp 6.0-liter, carbon fiber bodywork, a stripped car aimed at track use. It is the one Diablo that trades like a different kind of car.
- US-only special editions (Monterey, Alpine, Momo): Wikipedia lists a 20-car SV Monterey Edition (1998), a 12-car VT Alpine Edition (1999) and a 12-car VT Roadster Momo Edition, all produced exclusively for the US market. Single-source and tiny in volume, but they are the clearest documented US-specific Diablos, and the Momo Edition is the only US-market Roadster the sources name.

## History

### Why the Diablo exists

The Countach was the poster car and the Diablo was the job of replacing it. The Drive describes the Diablo as intended to replace the Countach as the flagship. The design began as Project 132 in 1985, with styling by Marcello Gandini, and the problem was money rather than ideas. Lamborghini needed an owner that could fund the work. When Chrysler Corporation bought the company in 1987 it funded the car's development, and The Drive records that Gandini's shape was revised by Chrysler's design center, which had become the majority shareholder. The Diablo that went on sale in 1990 was therefore a Gandini car finished by Detroit, a detail that rarely makes it into a spec sheet.

### What launched

The 1990 car was rear-wheel drive with a 5.7-liter V12 rated at 485 hp and a claimed top speed of 203 mph, the fastest production car in the world at the time according to Lamborghini's own history. The US base price for 1990 was $239,000 per supercars.net, and The Drive gives $272,935 for the 1992 model, so the price rose by more than $33,000 in two years. The sources consulted do not give a US price for any later model year.

### The variants, and what reached the US

The line split quickly. The VT added four-wheel drive and carried on to the end. The SE30 of 1993 to 1996 was a 518 hp, 150-car anniversary special, of which only 25 were for the US market, so roughly one in six. The SV of 1995 to 1999 was the rear-wheel-drive car at 503 hp. Wikipedia also lists a Roadster (about 200 VT Roadsters and 2 SV Roadsters), a 6.0-liter VT 6.0 and VT 6.0 SE for the final model years, a 40-car GTR, and four US-only runs: a 20-car SV Monterey Edition made for the US in 1998, a 12-car VT Alpine Edition for the US in 1999 and a 12-car VT Roadster Momo Edition, also US-only. Beyond the Momo Edition, the US-market delivery status of the Roadster, GT and 6.0 is not documented in the sources consulted. classic.com records US auction sales of the SV Monterey Edition and the GT, which shows the cars are in the US today and says nothing about how they arrived.

### Chrysler to Audi

Chrysler's ownership ran from 1987 until the sale to Audi. The sources disagree on the date: The Drive says Audi took over the company in 1999, while Wikipedia dates the acquisition to 1998. The Audi era produced the cars everyone points to: the 6.0-liter VT of 2000 and 2001, which The Drive describes as significantly more refined than the early cars at 543 hp, and the GT of 1999, first shown at the Geneva Motor Show that year and described by classic.com as the best of the Diablo as it neared the end of production.

### The end of the run

Production ended in 2001 with the 2001 model year, and the Murcielago, the first Lamborghini designed under Audi, replaced it. By then 2,903 cars had been built per the factory, though Wikipedia's variant counts do not reach that total. The detail a reader can repeat at a car show is the SE30: 25 of the 150 reached the United States, and a few dozen special editions made for the US market sit on top of that, which is why US buyers meet unusual Diablos more often than the production totals suggest.

## What to look for

The checks below come from owner-side sources and are single-source in places. The clutch is the first one: a FerrariChat contributor notes that clutch wear is an engine-out service and therefore expensive, while a broken clutch rod disables the car but the part itself is cheap and easy to replace, so a car whose clutch history is unknown is worth pricing as if the clutch is due. Brakes are the next: early cars have braking that is inadequate for the engine, and the same source says even the 1994-and-later brakes are marginal for a driver who uses the car hard. The front shocks on cars with the nose-lift system are described as a weak link and expensive to replace, so a lifted nose that does not rise or sag overnight is worth checking. Cosmetic wear is predictable: outside door handles crack from sun exposure, and Lamborghini leather wears poorly, so scuffed bolsters are common and a car with unworn seats is either low mileage or retrimmed. The same contributor recommends a pre-purchase inspection at a Lamborghini-experienced facility and asks for an LDAS diagnostic report from the ECU to see the maintenance history and signs of abuse. Beyond the mechanicals, the variant matters more than on most cars: a car sold as an SE30, a US-only edition or a GT should be matched to its documented production count and to its specification, since the market pays very different prices for each, as the figures in the market notes show. A US-market car versus an imported one is also worth establishing from the paperwork, because the sources consulted do not list which VT, Roadster or 6.0 cars were delivered new in the US.

## Common problems

The only fault-pattern source retrieved for this page is a FerrariChat owner thread, so everything here is forum-reliability and no dollar costs are documented. The clutch is the principal wear item: the contributor says it is an engine-out service and not cheap, and that a clutch rod can break and disable the car though the part is inexpensive. Braking is the second: the early cars are underbraked for their power and the contributor calls even the 1994-and-later brakes marginal for track or aggressive road use. The front shocks on nose-lift cars are expensive to replace. Smaller items are easy and cheap: steering wheel horn switches fail, brake light switches fail, outside door handles crack in the sun, and leather bolsters scuff. A federal recall lookup was attempted for this page and returned an error, so no NHTSA campaign numbers or counts are stated; a reader checking a specific VIN should run it through NHTSA directly. A US dollar figure for a typical annual service or a clutch job is not documented in any source retrieved here, and the page does not estimate one.

## Market notes

As of September 2026 classic.com shows a spread of Diablo values that depends on the page and the variant. Its base-model page (1990 to 1998) gives a market benchmark of $318,616 and an average sale of $283,778, with the lowest recorded sale at $160,000 for a 1992 car on August 27, 2023; the main Diablo page lists the same base-model benchmark at $258,772, so the two pages are different snapshots and should not be mixed. The SE30 benchmark is $406,000. The SV benchmark is $462,063 for the first generation (1995 to 1998) and $582,460 for 1999, with an average of $493,175 and the lowest recorded sale at $353,000 for a 1998 SV on March 29, 2025. A 1998 SV Monterey Edition sold for $527,500 on August 16, 2025, and a 2001 VT 6.0 coupe sold for $600,000 on September 17, 2025. The GT is in a different market: classic.com's benchmark for it is $1,886,808 on the GT page and $1,235,664 on the main Diablo page, with recorded sales at $2,600,000 for a 2000 car in Lynnwood, Washington in July 2026 and $2,425,000 for a 2000 car in Monterey, California in August 2026, and a $1,435,000 sale in August 2025. The 2000 VT 6.0 benchmark is $560,411, but the four recorded sales on that page are European (a UK sale in pounds and a German sale in euros), so they are not US comparables. Auction lots are quoted as listed, and buyer's premium treatment varies by house.

## Value trajectory

A 1990 Diablo listed at $239,000 in the US, and a 1992 car at $272,935 per The Drive. As of September 2026 classic.com's base-model benchmark of $258,772 to $318,616 puts a base car at roughly the same dollars it cost new, before adjusting for inflation, and the lowest recorded base sale of $160,000 in August 2023 marks the floor that page records. The SE30 at $406,000 and the SV at $462,063 sit above the base car, reflecting their lower counts, and the late 6.0-liter cars trade higher again, with the 2001 VT 6.0 at $600,000 in September 2025. The GT is the outlier: 83 were built and classic.com's recorded sales of $2,600,000 and $2,425,000 in mid-2026 are about ten times the price of a base car. The pattern is that the nameplate has split into tiers by specification and production count rather than rising as a whole, and the 6.0-liter and GT cars gained most. The sources consulted give no data on how these values moved between 2023 and 2026 beyond the dated sales above, so no trend rate is stated.

## Sources

- [Lamborghini Diablo](https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/history/diablo) (Automobili Lamborghini)
- [Lamborghini Diablo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Diablo) (Wikipedia)
- [Time Flies at 203 MPH: The Lamborghini Diablo Turns 30 Years Old](https://www.thedrive.com/news/38006/time-flies-at-203-mph-the-lamborghini-diablo-turns-30-years-old) (The Drive)
- [1990 Lamborghini Diablo](https://www.supercars.net/blog/1990-lamborghini-diablo-2/) (supercars.net)
- [Diablo 0-60 times](https://www.0-60specs.com/lamborghini/diablo-0-60-times) (0-60specs.com)
- [Diablo 2wd production #'s?](https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/diablo-2wd-production-s.157463) (FerrariChat)
- [What is the most common things to go wrong on a Diablo?](https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/what-is-the-most-common-things-to-go-wrong-on-a-diablo.98153) (FerrariChat)
- [Lamborghini Diablo - Base Model Market Summary](https://www.classic.com/m/lamborghini/diablo/base-model) (classic.com)
- [Lamborghini Diablo GT Market Summary](https://www.classic.com/m/lamborghini/diablo/gt) (classic.com)
- [Lamborghini Diablo SV Market Data](https://www.classic.com/m/lamborghini/diablo/sv) (classic.com)
- [Lamborghini Diablo Market Analysis](https://www.classic.com/m/lamborghini/diablo/) (classic.com)
- [2000 Lamborghini Diablo VT Market Summary](https://classic.com/m/lamborghini/diablo/vt/year-2000) (classic.com)

Cite as: Fully Sorted, "Lamborghini Diablo (Diablo, 1990-2001)", https://fullysorted.com/research/models/lamborghini/diablo, updated 2026-10-01.