Revealed: Rinspeed sQuba  

By Henry Biggs
February 14 2008
I defy anyone to look at these pictures of this sQuba concept without inadvertently humming the James Bond theme tune.

Always to be relied upon to introduce to the world a car that no-one needs but everyone secretly wants, the, shall we say esoteric, Swiss firm Rinspeed has outdone itself with its new submersible concept, to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

A full 30 years after Roger Moore drove his submersible Esprit into the Mediterranean in The Spy Who Loved Me, the film-makers fantasies have finally become reality with a car which Rinspeed says "flies" underwater. Fittingly enough it is also based on a Lotus, this time the Elise, although mindful of the old joke about screen doors on submarines, perhaps the closed-roof Exige would have been a better starting point. Like most modern submarines the sQuba is electrically powered but thankfully there is no nuclear reactor on board, simply rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, ready to be plugged in to your local hydroelectric power-station.

The car/boat/sub/whatever houses three electric motors; one which provides motive power on land and one for each of the twin screws which propel it through the water. These are supplemented by two Seabob water jet units which sit in carbon fibre pods flanking the front wings and aid manoeuvrability. On dry land handling is taken care of by a KW Automotive stainless-steel coil-over suspension set up and 18-inch alloys wearing Pirelli tyres. It can even drive itself to

From seashore to seabed is simply a matter of driving straight in, whereupon the sQuba will float until a door is opened to allow water to flood the cabin and force the car under. No details on how one reverses the process however. The open cabin obviously means that the secret agent driver and his lovely passenger would firstly, get wet; and secondly, drown but Rinspeed has at least addressed the latter problem with an inbuilt air tank which connects to standard scuba diving equipment.

In fact the reasoning behind the open roof is to allow a quick exit should everything suddenly stop being ship-shape and because the car would have had to weigh an extra two tonnes to overcome the extra buoyancy of the air in the cabin. To prevent passengers floating away while underwater the seats are covered in an ultra-friction material while the door cappings and external panels continue the aquatic theme, the former covered in mother-of-pearl and the latter in a jaunty fish motif. Even the interior is resistant to salt-water so Rinspeed appear to have thought of everything; as the song says: "Nobody does it better".