The Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally is a mid-size SUV that doubles as an off-road adventure marauder. Created to compete in the 2018 Rebelle Rally, the modified Pilot competed in the Crossover Class, finishing fifth overall behind the driving and guidance of the “Desert Dreamers” team that’s made up of Honda product planner, Ariel Jen, and senior fabricator, Melanie Morimoto. The Pilot Rebelle Rally is headed to the 2018 SEMA Auto Show where Honda plans to showcase the aftermarket possibilities that can happen with its mid-size SUV.

What makes the Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally special

The Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally isn’t your typical aftermarket build. It’s actually not even an aftermarket build, at least not in the traditional sense of the phrase.

Honda fielded two teams in the race with women who work for the automaker in various capacities. The Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally was piloted by the California-based “Desert Dreamers” tandem of product planner, Ariel Jen, and senior fabricator, Melanie Morimoto. Using only compasses and paper maps, Jen and Morimoto piloted — no pun intended — the tuned mid-size SUV to a fifth-place finish in the Crossover Class of the race. Finishing one spot ahead of the Desert Dreamers was the Ohio-based “Ridgeline Rebels” that featured a 2018 Honda Ridgeline that was driven by engine test engineer, Maria Guitar, and vehicle safety test engineer, Michelle Klein.

The Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally did well for itself despite carrying minimal modifications. While it does look the part of a racer with the fancy color and matching graphics and decals, the Pilot Rebelle Rally featured a stock drivetrain that includes the factory engine, transmission, and the i-VTM4 all-wheel-drive system. That’s the extent of the modifications received by the Pilot Rebelle Rally.

Even with an almost-stock Pilot and a number of obstacles along the way, Jen and Morimoto pushed through to its impressive finish in the Crossover Class of the racing event. "There would be times where I'd be absolutely terrified, but we just had to go for it and do something because there was no other option," Jen said in a statement after the race. "When it's just you out there with nothing else, and things go wrong, you can't dwell on the problem. You need to figure out a solution and move forward."

"Participating in the Rebelle Rally showed me that there is freedom in taking risks, failing, and learning from your mistakes," Kleim said. "As Mr. Honda said, 'Instead of being afraid of the challenge and failure, be afraid of avoiding the challenge and doing nothing.’”

If you happen to check out the Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally at the 2018 SEMA Auto Show, you now know that it’s not there to showcase the SUV’s latest tuning chops. It’s there as a reminder that it successfully passed the Rebelle Rally with flying colors with two female Honda employees driving it.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2016-2019 Honda Pilot.