A rugged rescue vehicle with military styling overtones is set to be the second amphibious model from Gibbs Technologies. The Humdinga — an obvious play on words of GM's Hummer brand — is an all-new vehicle with different body construction and suspension design to the company's Aquada sports amphibian (right).
‘The Humdinga is designed specifically to access remote terrain anywhere in the world,’ company founder Alan Gibbs told Autocar.
But it is also a test-bed for Gibb's patented amphibian technology. ‘We have spent a million man hours developing this technology,’ he added. ‘The Humdinga shows the future potential.’
In place of the Aquada's box-section alloy frame and composite bodywork, the Humdinga uses a fabricated alloy monocoque body and hull, roomy enough to seat five.
Suspension is Gibbs' patented folding system, but with a pneumatic retraction system instead of the Aquada's hydraulic.
Power comes from a mid-mounted 350bhp Chevy V8 driving all four wheels. Thanks to the grunt of the V8, Gibbs claims higher performance for the 2000kg Humdinga over the 1466kg Aquada – with a top speed of 100mph on land and 40 knots on the water.
However, the Hundinga is slower to reach its speedboat-style ‘plane’ on water: 10sec versus 5sec for the Aquada.
Chief designer Steve Bailey said Humdinga production was still ‘a few years off yet.’
Add your comment