We’re on the ground at SEMA 2018 and there are trucks everywhere. So many in fact, it seems Honda has had just about enough of it all, and turned its Ridgeline pickup into an off-road buggy.
The Rugged Open Air Vehicle (ROAV) concept blends two diverse products from the Honda family together. While it started life as a Ridgeline, Honda says it also incorporates the “off-road ruggedness and extreme styling of the Honda Pioneer 1000,” a popular side-by-side model from the Honda Powersports division.
The ROAV adopts the production doors of the Pioneer. Honda has built custom bed and tailgate panels inspired by it as well. The Pioneer also donates its steering wheel, taking pride of place in front of a quartet of Civic Type R seats. Honda’s reupholstered the thrones in the same waterproof material as the Pioneer’s seats, and toughened up the rest of the interior to more easily cope with the open elements.
Luckily, it sounds like the team left the original 3.5-liter V6 in place instead of swapping in the Pioneer’s 999cc twin-cylinder.
In a sea of brodozers and the sort of delicate-looking off-roaders that ironically don’t seem like a safe bet off the show floor, the Rugged Open Air Vehicle is actually pretty refreshing. It looks like it’d be fun to bomb around the deserts outside of Vegas in — but we won’t hold our breath for any production plans.
