Underwater car is not a Texas lemon, …yet.

One unfortunately common complain we hear from our clients is that their new car has a leak. Door seals leak, retractable roofs leak, sun roofs leak and so on. When you buy a new car, you should expect to be able to stay dry inside it, even if you are in a car wash. However, it is unreasonable to expect to be able to drive your car into the ocean and still have it function.

This is not true for the new Rinspeed sQuba which is scheduled to be displayed at the Geneva auto show in March 2008. At a push of a button, the sQuba changes from a land vehicle to an amphibious one. The sQuba is driven electrically, propelling the rear wheels while on land with a 37 kW engine and with two stern propellers and two bow jet drives while underwater. It is also ‘futuristic’ in that some components are made of carbon nano tubes and it is a zero emission vehicle. It has a maximum depth of about 33 feet. Unfortunately, no speed/performance data is currently being advertised.

Frank Rinderknecht, the CEO of Rinspeed admits that some of the inspiration for the sQuaba came from the classic James Bond movie “The Spy who loved me” which featured an aquatic-adaptable Lotus. Unfortunately, currently there are no plans to mass produce the squab.

Were this marvelous vehicle ever to make it to market, we would expect Rinspeed to exercise quality control and for our sQuba not to leak even if we drove it into a lake, In the mean time, if you are having problems with your new car leaking or otherwise not living up to the manufacturers specifications, you may have a lemon and may have some recourse. For more information, visit our site at www.texaslemon.com

This article was written by Carl Fischer. Mr. Fischer is a consultant to my office.