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Adrian PatonRinspeed sQuba Concept: The World's first diving car
December 18th 2007 22:00
Renowned Swiss powerhouse, Rinspeed, will debut its latest creation in concept form at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2008.
While technically still a car with four-wheels, this astonishing concept takes things a whole lot further because it's the world's first real diving car. On land, the sQuba is powered by an electric motor sent to the rear wheels, but at the push of a button, this amphibious vehicle is transformed into a 'submarine' thus reaching depths of 10 metres underwater while driven by two propellers and dual jet drives. The futuristic cockpit even comes with its own supply of oxygen to ensure that its occupants won't suffocate to death.
At present, the sQuba will only remain a one-off with no plans for production, but you never know, things could change by the time it is publicly unveiled next year.
The Official Rinspeed Press Release:
Is it just a clever computer animation or maybe more a fiction from a Hollywood movie? Or is it actually a real car sitting there? Many visitors to the upcoming Geneva Motor Show (March 6th thru 16th, 2008) will ask themselves just these questions when faced with the new Rinspeed creation "sQuba" - the worlds first real diving car. This astonishing concept vehicle from the renowned Swiss powerhouse for new designs and ideas looks almost like it just came out of a James Bond movie.
Its capabilities not only to drive on roads - and this also at a push of a button autonomously (thus without a driver, passenger or further assistance) - but also to agitate as an amphibious vehicle and to protrude to water depth of up to 10 meters (33 feet) go beyond the scope of many human virtues of imagination.
For Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht the "sQuba" symbolizes the realization of a long-cherished dream and of movie fictions - of which perhaps the most noted out of the James Bond film hit "The spy who loved me". "And exactly thirty years later this amazing - yet at the time animated - film sequence materializes and becomes reality, in today's world", says Rinderknecht.
Definitely part of the material world is the power of the concept car: An electric motor with powerful torque drives the rear wheels. The propulsion on the water is ensured by two propellers in the stern and two powerful jet drives in the bow propel the vehicle under water while diving. With zero emissions, zero pollution in the seven seas of this world. The light weight body with components made of futuristic Carbon Nano Tubes encloses in a streamlined manner the driver and passenger who are supplied with fresh breathing air by the self-contained on-bord system.
A new and fascinating world is opening to the occupants of the "sQuba" which will remain most likely - as its predecessors - a unique and exclusive one-off vehicle. But: Attention guaranteed.
[Source: Rinspeed]
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