Despite slumps in pickup sales, the more than 1,000 pickup owners surveyed for a SEMA-commissioned study indicate that consumers within this market segment are still planning to customize their vehicles.
A large component of SEMA’s annual light-truck report consists of Foresight Research’s Pickup Truck Market Accessory Study, commissioned by SEMA. Between February 21, 2008 and April 21, 2008, data regarding products that had been purchased or are going to be purchased were collected along with demographic information. For the 2008 study, owners of nine different fullsize pickup models and eight different midsize or compact pickup models were surveyed.
Table 4 and 5 display the data for the top 10 accessories purchased or planned to be purchased for the five top-selling fullsize and midsize pickups. The heavy-duty trailer hitch is a top pick for three of the fullsize nameplates and two of the midsize nameplates.
"Even with declining pickup truck sales, the truck enthusiasts who are buying new pickups are still spending money to accessorize them,” said Megan McKernan, SEMA market research special projects manager. “It is also important to remember that new pickup sales do not tell the whole story: There are plenty of current pickup truck owners to target. Pickup truck owners whose vehicles are just a couple of years old may just now be deciding to accessorize them."
A complete report and analysis of the data collected from this representative sample will be available in SEMA’s 2008 Light-Truck Personalization Report.
For more original SEMA research, please visit www.sema.org/research.