By SEMA News Editors
Across the 2025 SEMA Show, which continues today through Friday, November 7, exhibitors are seeing strong engagement from buyers, builders, and technicians eager to discover products that make custom work faster, smarter, and more accessible.
For Phillip Draheim at Formlabs, this year's SEMA Show proved to be a success, attracting a healthy amount of buyer and attendee attention at their booth in North Hall, Booth #12716. "[There has been] lots of traffic, lots of diverse interests, and lots of applications," he said, pointing out that industry members from all facets of the aftermarket can use their 3D printers for a variety of products and prototypes.
"There's just a lot of custom need in the automotive industry. A lot of people want to make custom things or stuff that they just don't have access to, or the tools to be able to build the stuff that they want, or maybe it's just really expensive or really complex. So, [3D printing] is a great solution for that," Draheim said.
"[The SEMA Show] gives us exposure to the automotive culture. We get a lot of feedback from mechanics and shop owners," said Robert DiPede of Teslong, North Hall, Booth #12761. "We make versatile inspection cameras for any kind of use that you can imagine. [One] tool will allow you to take video and images that you can send to your customer and actually show them where the damage is in their car."
Pivotal, a manufacturer based in Palo Alto, California, is making waves with its Helix flying vehicle aircraft.
"A lot of people refer to this as a flying car, but there's not a whole lot of car aspect to it. Right now, it's a wonderful machine to fly from a property, take the wings off, and transport it in a trailer, perfect for going camping or taking on a road trip. It's very flexible," said Cal Cruickshank of Pivotal, who also pointed to some real-world practical applications, too. "In more remote areas, say, places that take more than 10 minutes for an ambulance to get to--in some cases, that's not quick enough. So we're actively demoing and--more news to come--but working with fire departments to get paramedics on scenes more quickly to stabilize patients and wait for the rest of the crew to arrive."
The machine is actually the first of its kind tilt-body aircraft as well. "So instead of tilting the props, we tilt the entire aircraft, which removes a lot of weight. The whole thing weighs 348 lbs., including the ballistic parachute that brings the whole aircraft down in the case of an emergency, as well as the emergency floats," Cruickshank said.
"Made in the USA" was also seen on several booths and products, including Lenoco CNC in Deerfield, Florida.
"We make all our products in the USA. We have around 1,500 clients who rely on our machines, a lot of them at the SEMA Show, but we still have room for growth. We're continually improving our products," said Rob Wallace of Lenoco, which was showcasing its advanced wheel repair equipment this year.
"Our CNC wheel lathes allow users to skim a very light amount off the surface of the wheel to give it its original finish. So instead of throwing your wheel out—say, if you hit the curb and get some curb rash—you can refurbish it with our machine. Dealerships, mechanical shops, body shops, wheel and tire shops, anyone who deals with customers 0would do very well with this product."
You can see the lathe in action and related wheel accessories for yourself in the Upper South Hall, Booth #35102.
Not attending the SEMA Show this year? You can catch all the action on SEMA Live, the official live stream of the SEMA Show. View the Day 2 recap below and click here to watch the Day 3 live stream.
Attendee registration for the 2025 SEMA Show, November 4-7 in Las Vegas, is still available online here. Online registration for qualified professional attendees is $100 per person, with badge pickup on-site on the SEMA Show campus. A SEMA Show badge includes access to both the SEMA Show and AAPEX.
Hotel reservations, including for several new properties in Las Vegas, are available at the guaranteed lowest rates exclusively for Show attendees through SEMA's official hotel provider, onPeak.
For more information about the 2025 SEMA Show, visit semashow.com. Sign up for updates on SEMA Fest at semafest.com.
