American company Apocalypse 6×6 has released its last latest conversion, and it’s a Rivian R1T… under the skin at least.
The company is responsible for outrageous 6×6 conversions in the USA including Mercedes-Benz G Wagens, Jeep Wranglers, and Ford Broncos among many others.
Traditionally sticking to combustion cars, the Rivian R1T appears to be one of the company’s first electric off-road conversions.
Based on an Instagram post, the conversion was revealed a few days ago and is available for US$159,000 (A$249,685). Just to put that into perspective a stock Rivian R1T is US$87,000 (A$136,642) before on-road costs.
The conversion reportedly took nine months to build.
The company claims the converted R1T has 633kW of power, up from 622kW on the factory quad-motor variant, and is capable of 0-60mph (0-96km/h) in three seconds.
According to The Drive, the team at Apocalypse Manufacturing with the help of SoFlow Customs removed and fitted new suspension, and added new 38-inch tyres, a skid plate, and fibreglass panels.
The work was more complicated than both companies anticipated, owner Joe Ghattas told The Drive.
Reportedly the team had to custom-make a variety of components due to the complexity of the R1T’s setup.
According to The Drive, the team thought the build would require more frame modifications than suspension tweaks. That wasn’t the case, after discovering every part of the suspension needed to be fabricated from scratch after making the intended modifications.
“We thought we were going to be able to just slide that subframe down a bit. We ended up having to make our own spindle from scratch, upper and lower control arms from scratch, and our own steering setup there to extend the rack back to where the driver reaches,” Mr Ghattas told The Drive.
“This thing is chock full of sensors; it picks up resistance off one area or another and you’ve got a dashboard full of lights… It took a lot more than I thought.”
“I drove this car yesterday to the Dolphins game, and it’s a mixture of a sports car and a big truck all together. You want the feel of a Ferrari and be able to drive over curbs, and that’s what I got out of this,” Mr Ghattas added.
According to The Drive, Mr Ghattas said the stock Rivian R1T looks “like a Kia” and is very happy with how the modified R1T looks.
Mr Ghattas is so impressed by the Rivian’s technology and performance, he told the The Drive “someway, somehow if I could become Rivian’s Shelby or Brabus, I would love to be”.
