Nissan USA teamed up with Arizona-based printing business AZ Litho to produce a special wrap for the car company’s team in this year’s edition of the Rebelle Rally.
 
Launched in 2016, the Rebelle Rally is the first women’s-only off-road navigation rally raid event in the US, putting competitors to the ultimate rally test, with teams facing a number of challenges over the eight-day contest.
 
The event is also the longest off-road rally in the US and this year took place over more than 1,500 miles of desert across Nevada, Arizona and California, starting at the Hoover Dam on 7 October and culminating in California’s Imperial on 18 October.


 
Nissan USA’s ‘Team Wild Grace’, featuring a pairing of Sedona Blinson and Lyn Woodward, was one of a host of two-person teams that took part in the Rebelle Rally.
 
To help the team stand out among its competitors in the hotly contested event, Nissan USA decided to wrap the 2022 Frontier PRO-4X with a special design. The car company linked up with AZ Litho for the project.
 
Inspired by the Nissan Hardbody champion off-road racers of the 1980s, Nissan USA and AZ Litho came up with an eye-catching, red, white and blue wrap design familiar to Nissan fans around the world.
 
“Nissan has been a staple of off-road endurance racing since the 1960s, and the Hardbody racers of the ‘80s remain some of the most successful and recognisable trucks ever,” Nissan Americas’ vice president of aftersales, Michael Soutter, said.
 
One of the main challenges for AZ Litho was to ensure the wrap fitted around all of the extra parts on the vehicle. The one-off 2022 Frontier PRO-4X featured a range of NISMO Off-Road parts, including NISMO Off Road four-inch Lights, NISMO Off Road Performance Exhaust, NISMO Off Road Suspension Kit and NISMO Off Road AXIS Wheels.
 
AZ Litho used 3M IJ180CV3-10 vinyl with 3M 8518 overlaminate for the project, printing the design on its Mutoh ValueJet 1638X printer.
 
The special wrap drew plenty of praise at the Rebelle Rally, not least from Team Wild Grace co-captain Lyn Woodward, who said the design was a fitting tribute to Nissan’s heritage.
 
“Having grown up in the ‘80s and knowing what the Hardbody means to Nissan’s heritage, seeing our truck rendering for the first time was a legitimate ‘lump in my throat’ moment,” Woodward said.
 
Team Wild Grace, complete with its wrap, finished sixth in the 2021 Rebelle Rally, not far off the team’s fourth-placed finish last year. Team 4Xeventures finished top of the standings in a 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon.