Rinspeed sQuba submersible car

The visionaries (or lunatics) at Rinspeed have been at it again. The Swiss company known for bizarre vehicle designs will show a submersible roadster at the Geneva Motor Show (March 6-16).

The sQuba is being billed as the world’s first diving car, and is able to drive on land – with or without a driver – and then float and dive into water up to 10 metres deep.

If you think it sounds like the Bond car from `The Spy Who Loved Me’, you’re right.

Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht is a Bond fan and admits he’s been keen on developing a diving car since he first saw the movie.

“For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water,” Rinderknecht says. “Now we have made this dream come true.”

He says it is the Squba’s ability to `fly’ 10 metres under the surface that sets it apart from other underwater vehicles like the military submersibles that are restricted to driving along the ocean or river bed.

“It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water. The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water,” Rinderknecht says.

To develop the sQuba, Swiss engineering specialist firm Esoro removed the engine and replaced it with three rear-mounted electric motors powered by lithium-ion batteries – one motor drives the car on land, and the other two drive the propellers underwater.

They are supported by two powerful Seabob jet drives that ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvres.

To take it for a swim, you simply float into position and `crack’ a door to let water in. A tank of compressed air tends to the breathing needs of driver and passenger. At least until Rinspeed engineers some gills.

But you’ll get wet. The sQuba is designed as a roadster for safety reasons.

“We have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency,” Rinderknecht says.

“With an enclosed cabin opening the door might be impossible.”

However weight concern was also a factor in the topless design. If you enclosed even such a small cabin, the weight of the car would have to be boosted by about two tonnes to counteract the buoyancy – which means the sQuba would be as zippy as a giant turtle on land.

In keeping with its marine inspiration, the sQuba has been embellished with 3D foil embossed with sharkskin and scale patterns.

And while that’s all very attractive, we can’t help feeling that Rinspeed has overlooked the practical potential of the vehicle.

In the hands of Australian designer it could quickly be fitted with rodholders, baitbox and esky to become the perfect weekend fishing rig.