Rinspeed sQuba History

Unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, the sQuba was the culmination of a 30-year ambition by Rinspeed founder Frank M. Rinderknecht to build a real-life version of the Lotus Esprit submarine car from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Built on a Lotus Elise chassis, it is officially the world's first car capable of being driven both on land and fully submerged underwater.

The sQuba uses three electric motors — one driving the rear wheels on land, two powering underwater propellers and Seabob water jets for submerged travel. On land it tops 120 km/h; on the surface it reaches around 6 km/h; submerged it manages roughly 3 km/h and can dive to a depth of 10 metres (33 ft). Because flooding the open cockpit was unavoidable at depth, occupants breathe through an integrated scuba system with on-board compressed-air tanks. The entire prototype cost more than US $1.5 million to build and was never intended for production.

The sQuba remains Rinspeed's most widely recognised concept and one of the most technically ambitious amphibious vehicles ever constructed — a fully functional prototype, not merely a styling exercise.