Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Rinspeed sQuba concept.

While the Geneva Motor Show provides its own brand of ridiculousness, the Rinspeed crew takes the cake in Switzerland. We've already seen the pics, the prosperously pompous video and have attempted to rationalize the Rinspeed sQuba concept, but until we saw it in person, we just couldn't cope with the realization that a perfectly good Lotus Elise could be made into a pseudo-submarine. Well, we saw it. We shot it. And our necks are sore from shaking our heads.

Our previous post on the sQuba concept tells the whole tale and we've assembled a gallery of live shots to prove that where there's an ill-advised will, there's a way.

click above for more high-res images of the Rinspeed sQuba

Back in 1977, James Bond took a Lotus Esprit for a swim in The Spy Who Loved Me. It's only fitting that Swiss design company Rinspeed, known for its crazy concepts that often involve playing in the water, has based its newest creation on the Lotus Elise. Called the sQuba, this submersible convertible was first previewed back in December, but the firm has released tons of high-res photos, video and new information on its water toy.

The sQuba is an all-electric vehicle with three motors, one to drive the car on land and two to power a pair of screw drives for underwater movement. These are aided by two Seabob jet drives that "breathe" through rotating louvers mounted on the car's fenders and appear to give the car its maneuverability underwater.

Some might think a submersible convertible sounds like a submarine with a screen door, but Rinspeed has got a handful of reasons why it didn't go with a closed cockpit. Safety is one, because in an emergency, occupants might not be able to exit a closed cockpit vehicle underwater. Buoyancy was another, as the vehicle would've needed two tons of extra weight to offset the volume of air inside a cockpit, which would've seriously compromised the car's on-road handling. The small issue of breathing underwater is solved by an onboard breathing system that works like, what else, scuba gear.