Submersible car

The Rinspeed sQuba is an amphibious electric vehicle inspired by the submersible Lotus Esprit that Q gave to James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. There's only one sQuba in existence and it cost more than $1.5 million to engineer and build.

"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 CEO Frank) Rinderknecht, 52. Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving. The sQuba's top speed on land is about 77 mph, but it slows down to 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater....

"We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before. So we thought, 'Let's make a car dive,"' said Rinderknecht, whose innovative company has made transparent, flying and voice-activated cars in previous attention-grabbing displays at the Geneva Auto Show.

Link to CNN, Link to Rinspeed (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

• [erindipity]

  Outrageous!
  Too perfect, an amphibious Lotus Esprit! Let’s be frank, it’s more Ã¥wesome than Ã¥wesome! I mean, surely the man is a Genius. I would kneel before this Machine to bask in its scintillating display of style, versatility, and beauty. It’s very mark of brilliance is matched only by my revered BoingBoing.

  P.S.
  I’d bet we’d see some weird fishes if we took a 3 hour tour in this baby, hey Pesco? ;)

• [The Thompson Five]

  “Also excellent for tearing apart endangered coral reefs, polluting the water, and randomly killing wildlife for no reason.”

  Well what the fucking hell is the ocean for?

• [Biscuit4]

  “All cars are submersible” That is a fantastic point.

• [Chris Brewer]

  Top Gear had a look at Rinspeed way back in 2002, I believe. Back then it was a Lotus Elise/Hyrdofoil hybrid that went plenty fast enough over water…

• [larf]

  Patrick Duffy: The Man from Atlantis!

• [Yankadian]

  Who would want this, apart from Ted Kennedy?

• [Jali]

  I would never this car…
  1.5 million and 1.8 mph top speed under water.
  no way.

  nice car by the way.

• [Biscuit4]

  Ted Kennedy! Too funny!

• [whyohwhy]

  Why-oh-why???

• [arbitraryaardvark]

  Shark!

• [bobsyeruncle]

  Neet! 1.8mph? I guess you’re hoping the enemy subs aren’t expecting your Esprit to stroll up and pay them a visit. LOL

• [argentium]

  All cars are submersible.

• [bricology]

  So they took a butt-ugly Lotus Elise and tarted it up so it will operate — extremely slowly — underwater, with the occupants getting soaked. Thrilling!

  I love the point in the video where the two scuba divers go speeding past, pulled by their cheap little scuba-tows, leaving the $400,000 car in the dust, er — damp. And it’s hilarious that, at the end, they show Captain Smarmy and Miss Bleached Bimbo standing there, perfectly coiffed and dressed. Aren’t these the same people who were soaking wet just a few minutes earlier? Does the Rinspeed have built-in hair dryers and clothes dryers? In reality, they’d be a soggy mess.

  Note to Rinspeed: don’t bother us again until you can make your car’s cabin actually stay dry, and make the car go faster than 1.8mph underwater. Even as toys for the idle rich go, this thing is just laughable.

• [Steve Lodefink]

  Sweet!

  However, I would have done it as a Mach5.

• [Fnarf]

  Also excellent for tearing apart endangered coral reefs, polluting the water, and randomly killing wildlife for no reason.

  I want the death penalty.

• [fashionparamedic]

  OMG Yankadian, you did not just go there . . .

• [arkizzle]

  “” For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency “”

  right.. not because it’s a half-assed attempted at a car/sub.

  FAIL !!

• [Bob]

  I liked the apparent remote control aspect better than the open top super slow sub feature.