- The little-known Lamborghini Pregunta was the last concept built before the VW Group took ownership of the company.
- The Pregunta was inspired by the Dassault Rafale French fighter jet and built on the Diablo platform.
- It is expected to sell for between NZ$5 million and NZ$7 million.
The last concept car built by Lamborghini on its own platform is heading to auction with an unsurprisingly large sales estimate.
Broad Arrow Auctions is offering what it calls "a truly unique piece of Lamborghini and performance car history" at its next auction on the 10th of October: the Lamborghini Pregunta, a concept designed by Marc Deschamps and based on a Lamborghini Diablo platform.
With a sales estimate of between NZ$5 million and NZ$7 million, the Pregunta will headline the auction held at the Zoute Grand Prix Car Week in Knokke-Heist, that Broad Arrow Auctions says will feature an impressive catalogue of over 75 highly collectable cars.
Originally revealed in 1988, the Pregunta is the result of a collaboration between Lamborghini and French coachbuilder Carrosserie Heuliez and was originally commissioned when Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler.
However, before its debt at the 1998 Paris Motor Show, Lamborghini had been snapped up by the Volkswagen Group during its high-end carmaker buying spree that also it absorb Bentley and Bugatti. As such, the Pregunta is regarded by many as the last truly radical concept car to carry the famous Lamborghini name, and the last to be built on a bespoke Lamborghini platform.
Much like more recent Lamborghini concepts like the 2007 Reventón and the 2013 Egoista, the Pregunta was inspired by a fighter jet, the French Dassault Rafale. It features carbon fibre bodywork by Heuliez, with enormous air intakes, canopy-like scissor doors, wraparound glass and matte grey paint that all reference the Rafale.
The interior is equally fighter jet-inspired, albeit with lots of vibrant blue Alcantara, with glass screens, aviation-style seats, fibre-optic lighting and rear-view cameras. A Formula One-derived Magneti Marelli digital instrument cluster was used in the dash, while it was also fitted with an Alpine audio system that was seemingly obligatory for concept cars from the 80s and 90s.
The Pregunta sits on "extensively reworked" Diablo underpinnings, and its 5.7-litre V12 produced 395kW and 605Nm of torque, and was hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox. It could hit 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds and go on to a top speed of 337km/h.
Owned by Heuliez, the Pregunta would go on to be displayed by Lamborghini at trade shows and promotional events around the world throughout the decade after it debuted in Paris, making its final appearance under Heuliez ownership at Retromobile in 2007 before it was sold to a private collector in 2008.
In 2021 Lamborghini’s heritage division inspected and serviced the Pregunta before it was placed on display in the famous Museo Lamborghini.
"Not only is the Pregunta an incredible piece of supercar history, being able to offer this unique concept fresh from its time on display in the Lamborghini Museum in Sant’Agata, further enhances its desirability,” said Gregory Tuytens, Head of Consignments in Belgium and the Netherlands for Broad Arrow.
"We are thrilled to offer this unique Lamborghini to collectors at our Zoute Concours Auction, and look forward to welcoming collectors in person, on the telephone and online for what we expect to be some very exciting bidding."
