The company saw a spike in demand during the pandemic
Talks with Ford and Rivian are underway
Customers could rent an electric pickup to go camping in the woods.
Outdoorsy is a company that specialises in rentals of recreative vehicles. Since the pandemic closed the borders for many months, people had to vacation in their own country, which lead to a spike in demand for Outdoorsy, which it couldn’t cope with.
In order to be better prepared if such a situation were to happen again, the company is in talks with Rivian Automotive and Ford Motor Company, in order to add about 1,000 electric pickups to its rental fleet.
The company chose electric vehicles because it has a focus on the environment and on nature, so a vehicle that doesn’t emit pollution is ideal for them.
Outdoorsy wants to spend $100 million over the next few years to expand its fleet, mostly with the Rivian R1T, but also with the Ford F-150 Lightning.
2022 Ford F-150 Lightning | Photo: Sami Haj-Assaad
Neither automaker has yet accepted the order, and it is possible Rivian will pass on it, since it already has 55,400 pre-orders to fulfill, although the company wants to increase production up to 1,310 units per week, meaning it would take less than a year to get on top of the orders.
Outdoorsy confirmed themselves that if Rivian was to accept, the first R1T pickups would only reach its fleet in 2023.
The rental company surpassed $1.5 billion in total sales because of the pandemic and there are currently rumours of a possible public offering by the company since its bookings were 145% higher still in 2021 and the company is expecting further growth in 2022.
