WaterCar
AdventureBuildSignature
Contact UsBuy Now

Amphibious Encyclopedia · Amphibious cars

Iveco SeaLand

The Iveco SeaLand was an experimental amphibian that Italian engineer Maurizio Zanisi built from an Iveco Daily 4x4 light truck, adding a welded steel hull and a waterjet for use afloat [1]. Iveco exhibited it at the Genoa International Boat Show in October 2012 and suggested it as a tender for large yachts [1]. Iveco credited the vehicle with a 14-hour crossing of the Corsica Channel, a trip that its 2008 press release credits to Zanisi's amphibious Daily called the Iveco Terramare [1][2].

  • Amphibious cars
  • Shown 2012; Zanisi's earlier Daily amphibian dates from 2008
  • Italy
  • Land-first amphibian
Blue camouflage Iveco SeaLand afloat in a harbor
The SeaLand afloat in a harbor. Iveco photo.Photo: Iveco, via Auto Bild

History

Zanisi had already turned a Fiat Panda into an amphibian, the Panda Terramare, which cruised Italy's River Po in 2007 [2]. On 30 and 31 May 2008 he drove a converted Daily 4x4, the Iveco Terramare, from Bastia on Corsica across the Corsica Channel to Viareggio in Tuscany, about 75 nautical miles (140 km) in almost 14 hours, with Iveco's head of special vehicles, Roberto Cibrario, on board [2][6]. The voyage raised awareness for the aid association LVIA and its drinking-water project in Mali [2].

Four years later Iveco brought the SeaLand to the 52nd Genoa International Boat Show, held from 6 to 14 October 2012, next to its RAVx6 Duffy rescue amphibian [1][3]. At the show the SeaLand drove from the shore onto a pier and then down into the Ligurian Sea [1]. Iveco's 2012 description closely follows its 2008 description of the Terramare and credits the SeaLand with the 14-hour Corsica Channel crossing, but neither release says whether the SeaLand is the Terramare under a new name [1][2].

Design

Zanisi left the mechanical parts of the Daily 4x4 unchanged [1][5]. He made the underside watertight and welded steel sheet around it to form a hull, added a waterjet driven by the truck's 3.0-liter turbodiesel, and fitted extra tanks for about 300 liters (79 US gal) of fuel for long crossings [1][2]. Motor1 and Auto Bild noted that a jet can aim its thrust through a nozzle, making the vehicle maneuverable and its draft shallow [3][4]. In 2008 Iveco gave the Terramare's top speeds as 100 km/h (62 mph) on the road and 10 km/h (6 mph) in the water [2].

Use as a yacht tender

Iveco pitched the SeaLand as a tender for large yachts, and Auto Bild added rescue work near the shore as a possible use [1][4]. No series production was found. In 2016, however, SuperyachtNews reported that the owner of the motor yacht Exuma had Zanisi, director of the firm ZAM, build an amphibious tender based on his Daily prototype before a five-year voyage around the world [7]. The yacht's captain said it had a more powerful engine, a shortened Castoldi waterjet with a reversing bucket, a bow thruster and lifting points, and that it was sized to fit the yacht's garage [7].

Photos

Blue camouflage Iveco SeaLand on display, showing its steel hull and wheels
The SeaLand on display at the 2012 Genoa International Boat Show.Photo: Autofacil

Sources

  1. Iveco at the Genoa Boat Show with the SeaLand, Iveco (press release) (2012-10-09). www.iveco.com/global/Press/PressReleases/2012/Iveco-at-the-Genoa-Boat-Show-with-the-SeaLand
  2. Iveco Terramare crosses Corsica Channel, Iveco (press release) (2008-05-31). www.iveco.com/global/Press/PressReleases/2008/Iveco-Terramare-crosses-Corsica-Channel
  3. Für Straße und Wasser: Iveco zeigt neue Amphibienfahrzeuge (Stefan Leichsenring), Motor1 Germany (2012-10-15). de.motor1.com/news/155909/iveco-sealand-und-ravx6-duffy-neue-amphibienmobile
  4. Amphibienautos von Iveco (Stephan Bähnisch), Auto Bild (2012-10-18). www.autobild.de/artikel/amphibienautos-von-iveco-3679078.html
  5. Iveco Sealand: Un Daily con el que puedes navegar, Autofacil (2012-10-11). www.autofacil.es/iveco-sealand-daily-puedes-navegar
  6. The real 4x4 of the seas, Motor Boat & Yachting (2008-06-06). www.mby.com/news/the-real-4x4-of-the-seas-11165
  7. Exuma's amphibious Jeep, SuperyachtNews (2016-01-04). www.superyachtnews.com/fleet/exuma039s-amphibious-jeep
  8. Iveco presenta dos interesantes prototipos anfibios, SeaLand y Duffy (Sergio Álvarez), Diariomotor (2012-10-15). www.diariomotor.com/2012/10/15/iveco-presenta-dos-interesantes-prototipos-anfibios-sealand-y-duffy

Last reviewed November 2026. Spotted something to correct or add? Tell us and include a source.

About the Amphibious Encyclopedia

WaterCar has designed and built amphibious vehicles in Southern California for more than 25 years. We keep this encyclopedia so anyone curious about vehicles that cross between land and water has one place to start, with the sources listed for every fact.

Browse all entries → · The WaterCar machines → · How a WaterCar works →