sQuba: Designed for land and underwater
A Swiss company went beyond the usual car aesthetics and green technologies as it manufactured a convertible car dubbed as the sQuba that can be driven both on land and underwater.
Slated for debut on March in the Geneva Motor Show, the Rinspeed Inc.-manufactured Concept car sQuba is somewhat patterned from the famous car of James Bond called the Lotus Esprit from the film ‘The Spy who Loved Me’. Unlike the sports car that took center stage in the 1977 blockbuster movie, the sQuba, which has a salt water resilient interior, is not geared with any firearms.
Designed as a convertible, passengers will have to don wetsuits before the vehicle submerges. An integrated tank of compressed air allows individuals to breathe underwater. This aid is similar to those used by scuba divers.
“For safety reasons we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency,” said Rinspeed Chief Executive Officer Frank Rinderknecht, who is a self-confessed fan of the popular movie franchise.
On land, the sQuba can muster a decent 77 miles per hour (mph). Things go a little slower, however, on the water’s surface with 3 mph downgrade, while the sQuba decreases 1.8 mph of its speed when fully submerged.
Three decades of research and hard work paid off for Rinspeed Inc. as this first real underwater car, which is capable to ‘dive’ up to 10 meters deep, is set to wow the crowd in the annual auto show in Switzerland. The sQuba amassed $1.5 million for production but with possible partnership of Rinspeed, Inc. with other manufacturers, the tag price of the car can go lesser than a 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
“We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before,” said Rinderknecht. “So we thought, let’s make a car dive.”
Source: Associated Press via The Moscow Times.
