By SEMA News Editors
With fresh activations and increased participation, the 2024 SEMA Show is slated to be one of the most productive to date.
"The SEMA Show is a great place to be because of the exposure that a brand gets worldwide. SEMA is an international show, and its audience reach is significant," said Edwin Pereza, sales manager Spyder Automotive. "It's not just the typical buyer at the SEMA Show; it's also the influencers, the media, the professionals, and the other vendors and exhibitors that are exhibiting as well. Working with everyone, coordinating cross-promotion will maximize a brand's exposure."
SEMA Show's Central Hall, which houses the Racing & Performance product categories, is an attendee-favorite of the event, this year November 5-8, Las Vegas. As motorsports and high-performance applications often dictate the future of the automotive aftermarket, SEMA News sat down with key players in this space to find out just exactly what Showgoers can expect at this year's SEMA Show.
Toyota told SEMA News the OEM would showcase its well-known, racing-inspired GR line vehicles at this year's SEMA Show. Seen here is the GR Cup Series GR86 seen at the 2023 event.
Toyota, one of several OEMs exhibiting at the SEMA Show, revealed plans to highlight the racing market with its own racing-inspired vehicles, the GR line. Consisting of the GR Supra, GR86 and GR Corolla, the GR badge emphasizes on-track performance and demonstrates the brand's recent focus on turbocharging, made possible through innovations in compressor wheels, electronic boost control and direct-injection systems, according to Toyota Vice President of Vehicle Marketing and Communications Jeff Buchanan.
The GR line will be on display in the Toyota booth this year alongside the new Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Trailhunter overlanding brand and the new Associated Accessory Products (AAP) line of parts--all of which aim to provide the industry with a glimpse of the inspired creations and spark conversation, both at the SEMA Show and beyond.
"The SEMA Show is a chance to show off our imagination," said Buchanan. "It's the place we can really color outside the lines and go places no one ever thought possible.
"There's certainly a lot that happens live at SEMA for the people who attend, but we always see a great bounce for those tuning in from afar," he continued. "It's our goal at Toyota to have our SEMA Show display vibrate beyond the four walls of Central Hall."
In addition, the racing and performance markets will have plenty of new and returning products, vehicles and innovations to showcase at this year's SEMA Show. One exhibitor, BluePrint Engines, hopes to make a splash with several new initiatives for 2024 and some old favorites.
According to Jason Bruce, wholesale sales manager for BluePrint, the company plans to have its new LS and Gen-III HEMI lines on display, as well as its popular 383 Small-Block Chevy and 347 Small-Block Ford engines.
The new product lines, as well as the continued popularity of BluePrint's well-established slate of products, are made possible in part by the continued development of the industry around it, Bruce said.
"The beautiful thing about the racing and performance markets is innovation is always occurring," he said. "We are seeing excellent innovation in electronic fuel injection, which has helped drive engine sales and fine-tune our customer's engines for their particular vehicle and performance needs."
MagnaFlow Group plans to showcase its new suspension components at the SEMA Show through its Camburg brand.
MagnaFlow Group, another industry pillar slated to exhibit in Central Hall, is also planning to introduce a variety of new products across multiple segments, including new suspension components from its Camburg brand, acquired by MagnaFlow Group in 2022.
The new product lines signal an expansion into uncharted territory for the company, according to Richard Waitas, senior manager and spokesperson for the group, but stays true to its expertise, history, and most importantly, its customers.
"We feel that, as industry leaders, [we have] a responsibility to our consumers and fans to look beyond the product lines we have brought to market and seek out new opportunities, even looking into products outside our existing scope, but still inside of our race and performance lifestyle," Waitas said. "Within the MagnaFlow exhaust world, we've brought race-proven design to xMOD and combined it with 'No Drone Technology' so our customers could truly have the best of both worlds with race performance [and] daily-driver comfort."
Spyder's Pereza told SEMA News that he can't fully divulge what will be in the brand's SEMA Show booth this year, but was able to tease some interesting new features that will be added to its LED headlights.
"We're still working behind the scenes, but our LED headlights will have an aesthetic upgrade to what we have previously shown. We're also going to display our new designs so that customers can expect some nice upgrades in our booth," Pereza said.
But the SEMA Show isn't just an opportunity to introduce new products; it also serves as a launching pad for new services, programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to grow brand awareness, network with dealers and examine how the market is evolving.
CTEK, a provider of battery management solutions, is rolling out a new dealer program in 2024 and will have the SEMA Show platform to highlight its benefits alongside its solutions-based products. The program, called CTEK Ready, will see dealers fit each vehicle with a CTEK CONNECT EYELET accessory and accompanying sticker, enabling the salesperson to engage the customer in a conversation about the need for charging.
CTEK President DuMelle sees the Show as more than just a venue to get the word out on the company's latest program. The annual gathering is also an unparalleled opportunity for exhibitors to learn from customers, clients and competitors.
"The SEMA Show is a must-attend Show for CTEK," Bobbie DuMelle, president of CTEK said. "It is the biggest and best focus-group intel we can get, not to mention all of the networking opportunities and brand awareness."
Borla Performance Industries aims to showcase not only its latest technologies but also its progress in the ever-changing racing and performance market it serves.
"SEMA has evolved to become something more important for Borla than a platform to showcase our parts," said David Borla, chief marketing officer of Borla Performance Industries. "We're grateful to be a part of an industry that has such a rich history with such a bright future, and the SEMA Show is the center point of this beautiful and ongoing story. At our booth, buyers, media members and industry pros can expect to witness Borla's evolving role in this adventure series we call 'the aftermarket.'"
That evolving role includes following a shift in the market, which Borla sees as a bigger distinction between the racing and performance segments. The change, he says, provide an opportunity to innovate.
"Racing products can unapologetically be a lot more aggressive now, and enthusiasts are realizing there are no rules when it comes to cars not built to be driven on public roads. As a result, racing has now become an emerging market with a potential for huge growth," Borla said. "On the street performance side, 1,000-plus-hp cars are everywhere, and that dynamic has shifted the market to become less about power and more about aspects of car culture as a whole. Going fast in a straight line isn't as important to the performance enthusiast as it once was. You have to bring more than just power if you want to build something meaningful in street performance."
On the racing side, Borla sees purpose-built race versions of production vehicles as one of the more important and exciting innovations as of late.
Indeed, the SEMA Show is a must-attend event for anyone interested in racing and performance, but there's much more to SEMA than just this product category. Keep an eye on SEMA News for previews of Central Hall's Hot Rod Alley and Restoration Marketplace, plus the other Halls that will be teeming with the latest products, services, innovations and collaborations.
Success in the automotive aftermarket starts with the SEMA Show. Reserve your booth here. For more information on exhibiting at the SEMA Show, visit semashow.com/exhibitor.
On Monday, April 29, attendee and media registration opens, and the SEMA Show Exhibitor Services Manual and additional exhibitor resources will go live online.
SEMA Show organizers will conduct the booth plotting process from April 29 through May 15, after which the first iteration of the 2024 SEMA Show floorplan will be released.
Keep an eye on SEMA News and semashow.com for the latest deadlines, updates and opportunities for the 2024 SEMA Show.