Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato | PH Auction Block

It's the most entertaining V10 Lamborghini ever made - what more do you need to know?

The day Lamborghini revealed the Huracan Sterrato Concept will be fondly remembered here for a very long time. It was June 2019, it was sunny, a healthy contingent of Team PH was in the office, and Lamborghini said it was going to take the Huracan off-road. Seriously. We huddled around a laptop screen and gawped at this concept car that looked both just the right amount of far-fetched and ready to roll - Action Man’s Performante.

They wouldn't make it, of course, because Lamborghini was focused on making all the Uruses it could and, so far as the Huracan was concerned, seemed determined only to make it as fast around a circuit as possible. But, man, did it look good. And of all the people to take a mid-engined V10 off-road, Lamborghini would be the one. Chief Technical Officer Maurizio Reggiani said at the time that the concept illustrated ‘Lamborghini’s commitment to being a future shaper: a super sports car with off-road capabilities’. That sounded encouraging, but still our journalistic cynicism got in the way. It’s just another exciting Lamborghini concept, like so many of them. If they do make the Sterrato, it’ll be like Reventon or something, and they’ll churn out next to none of them.

So you can imagine the joy when the real thing was announced at the end of 2022. Not only would the Sterrato keep more than 600hp from the 5.2-litre V10, there would be a reasonable production run (1,499) and, best of all, it looked just like the concept. Were it not for the Porsche 911 Dakar being around at a similar time, the Lambo would surely have hogged even more headlines, the juxtaposition of low-slung supercar wedge with off-road ride height and accessories impossible to avert your gaze from. A bit like those SUVs that set lap records, there’s something that really shouldn’t make sense about rufty-tufty supercars, but it’s really hard not to be intrigued. Especially in these days of social media and great configurators, where you can imagine dream specs down to the last detail and see cars that would be worth 100 i-spy points whenever you want, further fuelling the obsession.

Perhaps more than any other Huracan derivative, it didn’t really matter what the Sterrato drove like; you’d just want to be seen in it, be that halfway up a hill or arriving for a dinner date. It’s so incongruous, yet so interesting, everywhere. But the reality of the high-rise Huracan, as with the Dakar, was that it made for one of the best entertaining models in the range. Of course, it wasn’t as sharp as an STO, though what it offered instead was an engaging, immersive, exciting on-road experience. Rally drive mode was clever in its torque distribution, the ride was great, and the ability to feel the weight move around was especially welcome. The Huracan has always felt quite friendly as mid-engined supercars go; the Sterrato only furthered that belief - it was a hoot.

Add to that middling mud-plugging ability and an image that people really seemed to appreciate (not always the case with orange Lamborghinis) and the Sterrato was widely adored. It was Autocar’s car of the year in 2023, and was a runner-up in our annual inspection of favourite cars. As supercars must seek to be more virtuous, so the Sterrato is just fun. And all the better for it.

Now, while that production run didn’t exactly mean Sterratos at every petrol station, it was a healthy amount for an end-of-production special. That means there are one or two available to buy and, while that’s an opportunity only really open to a select few, it’s one to grab with both hands. This one is being auctioned by PH in a few weeks; it’s effectively brand new, registered in September and having covered just delivery mileage. The spec is stealthy, the condition impeccable and (in case you hadn't noticed) the same sort of money is being asked for 911 Dakars, of which many more were made. And not a single one of those has a V10. We never thought the Sterrato would see the light of day, and we sure as heck won’t see another with an engine like this, so don't be surprised if the bids come thick and fast. Especially if our EuroMillions ticket came in...

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Red6

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86 months