Some amphibious vehicles are designed for recreational duties. Others are tuned to work as rescue vehicles. The Phibian, on the other hand should handle its business as a cargo-hauling workhorse, both on land and on water.
Made by Gibbs Tech, they’re billing it as “the largest-wheeled high-speed amphibian (HSA) ever created.” We’re not sure if that’s entirely true but the vehicle is built for driving at highway speeds, so the wheels should be bigger than what normally comes with recreational-type amphibious rides.
The Phibian looks like a cross between a large speedboat and a pickup truck — we guess it’s built to function like that, too. For power, it uses a 500 hp twin-turbo engine for running on land, with a 368 kW twin jet drive propulsion pushing its run on the water. It comes with selectable 4WD, power-assisted hydraulic steering and hydraulic-operated disc brakes. No word on max speed for highway driving, but it can clear 30mph running across lakes and rivers.
Vehicle dimensions are 30.22 x 8.3 x 11.98 feet, with a curb weight of 4,500. It can carry up to 3,300 pounds of cargo and fit up to fifteen people, making it an ideal platform for a variety of uses, from bringing supplies to ferrying tourists over water. No word on whether this can handle heavy-duty off-road driving although it’s going to be a hoot for taking down the beach or a lake either way.
No pricing has been announced yet but we doubt the Phibian will be anywhere within the “easily affordable” range.
[Phibian]