Lamborghini has long been associated with the greatly overused term “fighter jet for the road.” The company has openly said it draws inspiration from jets, and to its credit, there are a few design cues in its modern cars that unmistakably remind me of my once-quarterly fantasies of being a Top Gun instructor.
A lot of people believe Lamborghini’s fighter jet-inspired design began with the Reventón, an extremely limited production model based on the Murciélago that came out in 2007. While it’s true the Reventón took inspiration from Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor, it was far from the first jet-inspired Lamborghini. You’ll have to rewind the clock all the way back to 1998 to find the company’s first instance of fighter-first design.
The Lamborghini Pregunta (Spanish for “question” or “to ask”) debuted at the 1998 Salon de Paris motor show, sporting a body lightyears different than the Diablo on which it was based. Marc Deschamps, the guy who succeeded Marcello Gandini at Bertone, was responsible for the styling. By this time, he had also done two of Lamborghini’s other cars, the incredibly ’80s Athon concept and the cool (but incredibly rare) Jalpa. Deschamps was also responsible for one of the prettiest Citroën concepts ever, the GS Camargue.
From the jump, the Pregunta’s fighter jet inspirations were clear. The original press photos were taken in front of Dassault Rafale, and it even borrowed that plane’s paint job. From Broad Arrow Auctions:
The Pregunta’s body was constructed entirely of carbon fiber, finished in Matt Dark Grey paint borrowed from the Dassault Rafale fighter jet. This connection to aviation was central to the Pregunta’s identity, reflected not only in marketing imagery that paired the car with the high-tech French fighter plane, but in the design itself: wraparound canopy glass, scissor doors mimicking a jet’s canopy greenhouse, and two removable polycarbonate roof panels that could enclose the cabin.
Inside, the fighter jet motif continued. The cockpit was divided into a focused driver’s section and a more comfortable passenger’s area, with aviation-style seats trimmed in Azure blue Alcantara with contrasting black accents.
Unlike the later Reventón, which championed sharp lines and hard edges, the Pregunta’s rounded intakes and curved haunches seemed to mirror the intakes for the fighter jets of the time. Broad Arrow suggests this concept helped to inform the Murciélago’s design, though honestly, the proportions make it seem more like a Pagani Zonda than anything else to me (coincidentally, the Zonda would debut one year later at the Geneva Motor Show).
Though the tech inside couldn’t mirror a true jet’s cockpit, it was pretty advanced. The Pregunta had cameras in place of side mirrors, projected onto a central screen (in 1998!). There was also a Formula 1-derived digital gauge cluster from Magneti Marelli, and GPS navigation (then a brand-new thing in the world of cars).
The Pregunta was built at a time when concepts were usually real, running, driving cars, rather than engine-less husks on wheels (like most are today). It used the Diablo’s chassis and 5.7-liter naturally aspirated V12, tuned to 530 horsepower and 446 pound-feet of torque. Lamborghini claimed a 0-62 mph time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 206 mph. Power still went through a gated five-speed manual, but unlike the all-wheel drive Diablo, the Pregunta was rear-wheel drive.
Interestingly, the Pregunta was supposed to come out long before its 1998 debut. It was ordered earlier in the 1990s by Chrysler, Lamborghini’s then-owner. The project faced delays as Lamborghini was briefly passed to Indonesian firm MegaTech, before being purchased by VW Group in 1998 (the Pregunta debuted just one month after Audi acquired the company).
According to Broad Arrow Auctions, which is selling the car next month, Lamborghini signed a contract with design firm Heuliez (which Deschamps ran) that allowed the design house to show the car at trade shows, professional gatherings, and other promotional events until the end of 2008. Heuliez did just that until its last public outing, Retromobile in 2007, before selling the car to a private buyer. It’s been sitting in that buyer’s collection ever since.
Owning a one-off Lamborghini as significant as the Pregunta won’t come cheap. Broad Arrow expects it to sell at its Zoute Concours Auction in Belgium next month from anywhere between €2.5 and €3.5 million ($2.96 to $4.14 million at current exchange rates). Get your wallets ready, Autopians. If we all chip in, we might be able to afford the opening bid.
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Top graphic: Lamborghini and Broad Arrow Auctions
Robots in disguise my ass, I see you there Vehicon
Let’s not forget the Egoista, which took the Jet inspiration one level above.
It looks like a Diablo with very chunky thighs, and the Diablo was a pretty low effort design evolution of the original Countach. Some of the design touches are interesting but the execution needs development. Kind of a Lockheed P-80 aesthetic with its rounded pontoon shapes and no sharp angles, but needs a complete rethink. I’m really tired of the over done angular stealth fighter radar absorbing look. Which is why Corvettes and Lamborghinis are starting to converge. I don’t think the recessed AA Maglite headlights are successful. Looks like the front portion of the “nacelles” are attached to the doors and will hinge upward. They will never match up the rear fender and align properly, they need to be moved behind the door and remain fixed and one piece. It’s also going to look really awkward with the door open. The design language has possibilities but this is a failure.
I remember being nauseated by this thing when it came out. It’s still got it!
The Jalpa was an update of the Silhouette (and Urraco before it), which were Gandini, more like a facelift than an all new design.
But they did have those fantastic (rotary) phone dial wheels.
Glad it was a one off. Woof.
Fighter jet inflluence. With a touch of beached whale.
It’s nice, but it’s no Decepzione 😛