Having just read through this thread and trawled the internet for information a number of aspects i find interesting
1) A boat that goes on land will be much more useful and wanted than a car that goes on water.
Everybody owns a car anyway, and for an amphibious car so many modifications have to be made that for the 90% of time it on land it not a very goos car.
A boat that goes on land is very much more useful however. It is not designed to go on motorways etc but is great for people living near the water. No need for trailers, dragging boats in and out of water or a permanent mooring. Can be kept in a garage and find its own way into the water
In short, i can see people wanting these things
2) Cost issue, cost will come down as scale improves, but really 50-70000 isnt much money. It is in NZ but for many wealthy foreigners it not much at all, especially when the exchange rate drops a bit.
3) Credibility - This is the biggie, when this outfit started many wouldnt touch them with a barge pole due to the ITC connection. ITC were just another victim of the tech bubble and cant really be blamed if people pumped up its value, they went the way of many of the overly hyped stocks.
Since then sealegs has grown in credibility, the fact that they recently gained a 400000 grant shows they are being taken very seriously. Many boating magazines , show judges etc also are very impressed with the quality of the product
4) The future- they have invested plenty in research and are due to launch a fibreglass model which can be made about 10 times faster than the current model at a lower price.
like they said yesterday
"We've now got a backlog of 40 boats and we are really constrained. This is the tipping point where we get big," he said.
All aboard !!!! But bring your life jacket :)