The Gibbs Aquada Story In Brief-Cutting Commute Time by 90%

By Simon Carr

New Zealand, May 3, 2009: The Gibbs Aquada is neither a boat with wheels nor a waterproof car, it ’s something quite new,a quantum leap from what we have now,a new category of vehicle.It is new in the way that jump jets were new:the first Harrier could not only fly at speeds approaching the speed of sound it could also hover over the ground like a helicopter.

So the Aquada operates in two very different ways:it planes like a speedboat on water and on the road performs like a sports car.It doubles the utility of the car and thereby represents the single biggest automotive development for a century.

There have been many attempts to make amphibians,dating from (and in a couple of cases preceding)the invention of the motorcar.There have been twelve hundred amphibious vehicle patents filed, and quite a number of the major car companies have tried their hand at amphibious vehicles.None achieved any real degree of success.

So it is fair to say that Gibbs Technologies has produced the first amphibian designed and built to go fast on land and water,as well as complying with all automotive and marine regulations.

And who wants an amphibious sports car? There ’s more than one answer to this.The most obvious use is recreation:exploring the Greek islands,the Great Lakes,the Florida Keys,the Everglades,water skiing off St Tropez.This machine drives down the M4 and,in a sudden diversion,can take you up the Thames into the most beautiful and secret parts of the English countryside.

The Aquada gives the freedom to move easily from one medium to the other without towing a trailer,without having to return to where you parked.

Second:There are implications for urban transport in the congested cities of the world – from London to New York. Waterways were crucial to the development of many cities – colliers,,liners,clippers, warships,barges,water taxis all played their essential part in the growth of their city.Over the years,transport systems took more and more of the traffic onto land. The waterways remain,naturally,but they are virtually empty.

A daytime journey from residential Chiswick to commercial Canary Wharf takes between one and two hours by road by river, even in rush hour. The same sort of ratio can be applied to journeys in Manhattan, Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai and Auckland.

So there may be more significance in the Aquada than is immediately apparent it may have the ability to move urban property prices. It won't be the first time vehicles have done so.

There is a third use more abstract than the others.The essence of the Aquada is a new technology. It's innovative and protected by over sixty patents. But ultimately it is capable of transforming most motor vehicles into amphibians.

As the technology becomes more production-ized,customers may be able to order the amphibious option of the car they want in the same way we order air conditioning and four wheel drive now.

As there are sixty million cars a year manufactured this represents a very large, new market the first fundamental product innovation this mature market has known. Consequently it is hard to assess the full potential in this new development.