Billionaire investor and one of the Industry Leaders, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a man capable of building electric cars and space launch vehicles has a new wish. Now he wants to create a car that can convert into a submarine.

Musk's childhood dream

Elon Musk has reportedly purchased the car-turned- submarine used in the 1970s James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. Musk is apparently planning to install a Tesla electric engine inside the vehicle and turn it into a submarine that converts into a drivable car. It has been revealed that Musk has spent around $940,000 on the iconic Lotus submarine from the Bond classic. Price wasn't too high when you think of Musk as new Bond. It's wet submarine, means that it fills with water when immersed, so the driver has to put on a wetsuit and breathe air from a tank. (The dry passenger compartment portrayed in the movie was a set.) Another downer: It doesn't have a steering wheel or other automobile controls and is instead managed with levers. The fins and propellers are not retractable, but permanent. However with Musk's imagination and resources, may be all of that could change.

Musk, in a response to an e-mail, told "It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button and have car convert into a submarine underwater. I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform. What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric power train and try to make it transform for real."

This isn't Musk's first brush with Lotus, considering the original Tesla S roadster, was also based on a later Lotus sports car, the Elise. Its chassis and panels were designed by the supercar firm in the UK and were later shipped to the US for the installation of the Tesla all-electric power train and battery +59487 Žpacks. But it is first time Musk to think of Musk as Bond.

Is it possible?

It might sound like a radical plan now, however Elon Musk is known for his out-of-the-box thinking which he is able to push into reality. Previously he invented the Tesla Motor electric car; recently his Grasshopper rocket made its highest leap of 2,440 feet and was able to come back to Earth intact. He also revealed plans for a revolutionary new form of transport called Hyperloop train which is still in works. It is said to be 10 times faster than a bullet train. So to install Tesla engine into Lotus submarine and make his desire come true doesn't sound like something impossible for Musk. Or should I say Musk, Elon Musk?

Industry Leaders Magazine