GENEVA (AFP) — A car that can be driven underwater is set to beunveiled next month at the International Geneva Motor Show, the Swissmanufacturer of the prototype announced on Friday.
The ‘Squba’ islike something out of a James Bond film and, according to themanufacturer Rinspeed, is the world’s first real submersible car.
Rinspeed’s head, Frank Rinderknecht, is a James Bond enthusiast who has dreamed of making the amphibious vehicle come true.
“Forthree decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to builda car that can fly under water,” said Rinderknecht in a statement. “Nowwe have made this dream come true.”
The convertible sports cartransforms into an underwater vehicle in which passengers breathe withthe help of compressed air masks.
Propelled by electric motors, the car can descend up to 10 metres (32.8 feet) underwater.
Aestheticappeal aside, the open-top design of the car is actually a safetyfeature that permits passengers to get out quickly during an emergencyand avert the problem of excessive water pressure on the windows of aclosed car.
The invention will be presented at the car show inGeneva, which opens to the press March 4 and runs for the public fromMarch 6 through March 16.
It’s not the first amphibious car to be created; although a sports carlaunched in London in 2003 was only able to travel across the surfaceof the water, and not below it.
It does not come with all the bells and whistles, and champagne bar that the Lotus that James Bond had, which proves nobody does it better than Bond.
