Lamborghini’s Rare Pregunta Concept can be yours this October

Come October 10, the Lamborghini Pregunta concept is going under the hammer and is expected to command anything between 2.5 and 3.5 million Euros. That translates to roughly 26 to 36 crore rupees! But why does it merit such a high price? Even before that, what is a Lamborghini Pregunta? Time to engage reverse and travel backward.

Back in 1998, the Volkswagen Group picked up Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini; the last one from Chrysler when they felt like shopping. Just months later, the Pregunta, a concept car resulting from the collaboration of the very Italian Lamborghini and the equally French coachbuilder Carrosserie Heuliez, stole the headlines at that year’s Paris Motor Show. That would be the last time Lamborghini would develop a concept based on an Italian platform – the Diablo, and not a VW Group platform. And that is what makes the Pregunta so special. The fact that since 1998, it has only been seen rarely only adds to its enigma and exclusivity.

To create the Pregunta, the underpinnings of the Lamborghini Diablo were revised significantly, which included a rear-wheel-drive format. Inspired by the Dassault Rafale fighter jet, the Pregunta’s exterior by Heuliez featured outsized air intakes. The canopy-like scissor doors, the wraparound glass, and the matte grey paint job all reference the Rafale. 

Inside, too, the Pregunta had a distinctively high-tech fighter jet cockpit quality to it. Aviation-style alcantara seats in azure blue and wide glass screens left one in no doubt that Heuliez’s design was his interpretation of the Rafale design. Then there was fibre optic lighting and rear view cameras, which in 1998 were akin to witchcraft. There was also a Magnetti Marelli digital instrument panel that had been derived from F1 and an Alpine audio system.

The Pregunta concept was built around Diablo’s humungous 5.7-litre V12 with a monstrous 537HP and 605Nm of peak torque, which was good enough to push the Pregunta from a standing start to 100kmph in 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of a staggering 337kmph. It was a raging bull as only a Lamborghini could. Aural delight came from a specially designed Quicksilver exhaust system that mimicked the whine and howl of the Rafale’s twin jet engines. 

In fact, this whole idea of creating supercars inspired by fighter jets was borrowed again years later when Lamborghini, by then firmly part of the VW Group, debuted the Reventon in 2007 and then the Egoista concept in 2013.

Although the Pregunta debuted after the ownership of the brand Lamborghini had changed hands, the Pregunta itself remained in the possession of its designer, Carrosserie Heuliez. It was displayed at select trade shows and events across the globe, making its final appearance at Retromobile 2007. In 2008, the man who had penned the Pregunta sold it to a private collector who then continued to have this historic supercar displayed at select events, and in 2014, the car was given the Lamborghini Polo Storico certificate. The Pregunta then went on to become a display at the Museo Lamborghini in 2021, and that is where it has remained until now. 

When it goes up on sale this October, the Pregunta won’t just be a rare supercar that some private collector with pockets deep enough for the three and a half mil Euro or whatever his or her final bid is, will take home. It will be a single but critical piece of the jig-saw puzzle that will complete the pictorial representation of Lamborghini’s impressive history.