Jumping on the Hovercraft Bandwagon

Not long ago, hovercraft were not widely known. Then Bubba’s Hover took the world by storm, and now everyone seems to be jumping on the hovercraft bandwagon. As they say, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” – but the important word to keep in mind here is ‘imitation!’

Even reputable companies like Fiat are trying to create their own public relations storm by ‘hovering’ on the coattails of the Bubba phenomenon. This week, the MSC Divina cruise ship arrived in Miami, escorted by a fleet of “Fiat 500 Hovercraft” …

Image courtesy www.adelaidenow.com.au

But wait – those Fiats are in no way hovercraft. A hovercraft is “a member of the air cushion vehicle (ACV) family that flies above the earth's surface on a cushion of air, powered by an engine that provides both the lift cushion and the thrust for forward or reverse movement.”

On the contrary, these vehicles appear to move across water like a boat, with a propeller or water jet stuck underneath them - making them no more like a hovercraft than a motorboat is like a hovercraft. Go ahead and call them ‘personal watercraft’ – but they are not hovercraft. It’s kind of like calling a canoe a hot air balloon!

Watch the video – would you call these hovercraft?

And then there’s the GolfBoard™  – not related to hovercraft but probably inspired by Bubba’s Hover. A Kickstarter campaign recently reached its funding goal to produce an electric skateboard golf cart. 

GolfBoard™ image

The upside? This kind of publicity helps increase awareness of legitimate hovercraft – which have apparently triggered a burst of creativity!

And at least these companies haven't carried their imitation to extremes and directly pirated the Neoteric Hovercraft like those in the Hovercraft Ripoff Report