The Gibbs Aquada is a high speed amphibious vehicle developed by Alan Gibbs and his company Gibbs Technologies. It is capable of speeds over 100 mph (160 km/h) on land and 30 mph (50 km/h, or 26 knots) on water. Rather than adding wheels to a boat design, or creating a car that floats, the Aquada was designed from the ground up to perform very well in both fields, with over 60 patents covering technical innovations[1].
In 2004 Richard Branson, billionaire owner of the Virgin Group, used a Gibbs Aquada to set a new record for crossing the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. Branson cut 4 hours 20 minutes off the previous record of 6 hours, which had stood since the late 1960s. The officially recorded time was one hour 40 minutes, six seconds.[2]
Developed in the UK and Detroit[3], the Aquada is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in 2009 at a price of $85,000.[4]
