Marketing and all things related

Swiss specialist car maker, Rinspeed, has come out with a car that can drive on land and underwater (up to 30' underwater) called the sQuba.  I live in Central Florida where there are a lot of lakes.  Often, I've been stuck in traffic and thought, "If only I could drive underwater, I could cut across that lake and get around this traffic."  Okay, so I've never said that, but someone might have said it somewhere, sometime. 

The head of Rinspeed, Frank M. Rinderknecht, claims to be a big James Bond fan and says he created the car based on a scene in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.  Rinderknecht is known for making out-there, creative cars.  For example, Rinspeed's previous inventions included voice-activated cars, transparent cars and flying cars.

The sQuba can go 77 miles per hour on land, 3 miles per hour on the surface of water and 1.8 miles per hour underwater.  The biggest problem, it's a convertible.  If you go underwater in this car, you're going to get wet.  You'll be able to breathe though, thanks to an attached underwater breathing device and mask.  And don't worry about damage from salt water because the sQuba is made from materials inside and out that are resistent to damage from salt water.  Go ahead and take it for a dive in the ocean!

Check out the concept video from YouTube below.  It's hilarious in so many ways, but my favorite part is when the couple is completely dry at the end.

It cost $1.5 million to make the only sQuba in existence, but Rinspeed is in talks with car manufacturers to make a limited number of sQubas that would probably cost less than a Rolls Royce (i.e., under $400,000).  The target market would be people who have more money than they know what to do with and need a new toy.

So what do you think of the sQuba?  I think it would be a lot cooler if the passengers could stay dry and didn't have to put on the mask and breathing apparatus.  A self-contained compartment with oxygen would make all the difference in the world for the sQuba.

Would you get a sQuba if you were completely rolling in money?  Where would you drive it?  I don't know of many bodies of water that you're allowed to drive a car into.  Am I just not being open-minded enough for the sQuba?