An amphibious vehicle is a car that turns into a boat, Army’s often use large amphibians to move troops and a few commercial designs have entered the marketplace before with little success. Now a new Amphibian is about to hit the car market promising great performance on land and on water.
The Gibbs Aquada incorporates some interesting features and also provides good performance from its 2.5 V6 engine, when cruising the streets it has a top speed of 100mph, drive into the water and switch over to jet power with a top speed of 34.7 mph.
All 4 wheels raise when in the water turning the car into a real boat that can achieve speedboat functionality and powerful enough to tow a water skier. The Transition from land to water is achieved very easily in a few seconds by the push of a button.
The vehicle has exceptional safety standards on both road and in the water, and is designed to meet European road and marine safety requirements. It has undergone an extensive safety testing programme and full crash test analysis. When in the water it has a low centre of gravity which means that it is exceptionally stable and it will not capsize even when all three passengers are standing on the side step. There are hydrocarbon sensors in the engine bay, an automatic fire extinguisher system and most composite surfaces have a fire retardant treatment. There is a manual override safety power switch to disconnect all electric current. The jet is fully enclosed and cannot harm swimmers or pedestrians and has full road and marine lighting system.
The stylish convertible car will seat 3 people and is expected to go on sale in the UK for around 150000 pounds which would probably buy a lot of people a nice car and boat with change left over to buy a few nice fishing rods, but who could beat the convenience of taking to the water when the roads get a bit busy.
Recently a Gibbs Aquada was driven across the English Channel by flamboyant Virgin boss Richard Branson. Branson completed the trip in around and hour and forty minuets slashed almost four and a half hours off the world record for crossing the channel in an amphibious vehicle. So impressed by the Aquada Branson is considering buying a few for pickup of VIPs in London. When traffic gets busy his plan is to whisk the VIPs down the Thames to Heathrow airport.
