The Associated Press

OK, so the Swiss have created a car that runs on land and underwater. But did they really have to make it a convertible?

It's called the "sQuba," and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me. That fictional vehicle travelled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges." But Q isn't responsible for this one.

The concept car — which unlike Bond's is not armed — was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month. Company CEO Frank Rinderknecht, a self-professed Bond fan, said he has been waiting 30 years to recreate the car he saw Roger Moore use to drive off of a dock.

The sQuba can plow through the water at a depth of nine metres and has electrical motors to turn the underwater propeller. You'll have to break out the wetsuit, however. The car has an open top, meaning that the two passengers are exposed to the elements.

"For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency," said Rinderknecht, 52.

Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving. The sQuba's top speed on land is about 124 km/h, but it slows down to 5 km/h on the surface of the water, and 3 km/h underwater.

(Ho Rinspeed/Associated Press)

Working with engineering specialists, Rinspeed removed the original engine from a Lotus Elise and replaced it with several electrical motors. Three are located in the rear, with one providing propulsion on land and the other two driving the propeller for underwater driving.

"We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before. So we thought, 'Let's make a car dive,'" said Rinderknecht, whose innovative company has made transparent, flying and voice-activated cars in previous attention-grabbing displays at the Geneva Auto Show.

The company calls the sQuba the first real submersible car. Unlike military amphibious vehicles, which can only drive slowly on a lakebed, the sQuba travels like a submarine — either on the surface or submerged. The interior is resistant to salt water, allowing the skipper to drive into a lake or the sea.

Rinderknecht said it cost more than $1.5 million US to make the sole sQuba in existence, and that it was difficult to make a car watertight and pressure-resistant enough to be manoeuvrable
underwater.

Rinspeed is in discussion with commercial manufacturers about making a limited number of the cars. The price? "It would be cheaper than a Rolls-Royce," he said. A 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom
Drophead Coupe has a sticker price of more than $400,000 US.