SEMA News—October 2015

EVENTS

Compiled by Steve Campbell

Must-See Features at the 2015 SEMA Show

From Cars & Coffee to the Ultimate Automotive After-Party

	The 2015 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center will offer a profusion of sensory delights. Thousands will be in attendance, and they’ll have plenty to see.

At 1.16 million sq. ft. of exhibit space, the SEMA Show draws thousands of exhibitors, buyers, media and other attendees to a four-day car, truck and powersports extravaganza. The grounds of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)—both within the exhibit halls and in the surrounding spaces—offer a profusion of sensory delights. In the listings below, we’ve detailed just a few of the highlights.

Registration

To get in, you’ve got to be a member of the trade, and the first step is to register. The registration area for this year’s SEMA Show will be in the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, and there are convenient shuttle drop-offs adjacent to that area. On-site registration will be open to exhibitors beginning Thursday, October 29, at 8:00 a.m., and for buyers beginning Sunday, November 1, at 8:00 a.m. Registration will close for the 2015 event at 2:00 p.m. Friday, November 6.

For the ultimate in convenience, register online at www.SEMAShow.com/registration. Either way, registration is only $25 until October 16, after which the price increases to $75. But don’t lose your badge once you have it; replacement badges will entail a $100 charge. For complete information about registering, visit
www.SEMAShow.com/faq.

New Products Showcase

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, provides exhibitors with a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity.

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, is perennially the number-one buyer and media destination at the SEMA Show. The Showcase is available to all exhibitors and provides a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity. Exhibitors should take advantage of the opportunity to unveil their latest or greatest products to key players in the industry, and Show attendees should make every effort to scour the New Products Showcase displays for the products that will set retail shelves afire in the coming year. To make things even more efficient, buyers and media can take advantage of free electronic scanners that allow them to download photos and information instantaneously. For more information about placing a product in the Showcase, visit www.SEMAShow.com/ideas-alive-featuring-the-new-products-showcase.

Cars & Coffee
Each morning of the SEMA Show from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m., Cars & Coffee, SEMA Edition, gives attendees a great place to get a jumpstart on the day while checking out some cool vehicles and mingling with colleagues. Cars & Coffee will be located between the Westgate and the North Hall of the LVCC, where more than 80 Optima Street Car competitors will be lined up on the full length of the street between the buildings. The Optima vehicles run the gamut of street-legal vehicles from exotics and musclecars to trucks. After the SEMA Show, the vehicles on display will compete with others November 6–8 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the 2015 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. Get an up-close look at the competitors while quaffing a cup of Joe.

Keynote & Coffee
Another great way to kickstart each day of the SEMA Show is Keynote & Coffee. This series of free seminars features thought leaders in business and industry to help attendees burnish their mornings with stimulating perspectives on how to look at business in a slightly different way. The Monday session kicks off at 9:00 a.m., and every morning after that at 8:00 a.m., before the exhibit halls open and the regular conference sessions begin. Give your brain a chance to get moving with new ideas about the industry before you plunge into your day’s activities—and you’ll get a free cup of coffee to go along with it!

Performance Pavilion
The 2015 SEMA Show will include a new exhibitor expansion area adjacent to the South Hall. The Performance Pavilion, a new location for first-time and featured exhibitors, will be located near shuttle bus, taxi and limo drop-off and pickup points, making it a primary thoroughfare into the SEMA Show. Buyers and media in particular should be sure to check out the offerings housed in this new locale.

Professional Education
The Show is all about business, and part of attaining success in the industry is understanding business processes ranging from social media, marketing and advertising to the sales and installation of specific products. The 2015 SEMA Show offers a vast array of learning opportunities through Education Days. The schedule this year includes more than 100 sessions, many of which are free to attendees. Topics range from automotive electronics and business technology to product training and a complete slate of collision and repair courses. Visit www.SEMAShow.com/education to sign up for sessions that will help you optimize how you build and run your business.

Collision Repair and Refinish Stage
In addition to SEMA Education Institute’s broader business offerings, a specific track is available for trade professionals in the the collision and repair side of the industry. These individuals should check out the Repairer Driven Education series being hosted by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (visit www.SEMAShow.com/scrs). In addition to seminars, the series includes several live demonstrations at the Collision Repair and Refinish Stage in the North Hall of the LVCC. The Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair will co-host the stage, and topics include structural measuring in the blueprinting process, capturing all necessary elements for welded replacement components, structural adhesive bonding and much more.

Networking and Social Events
To help open space for even more exhibiting companies, the Paradise Event Center (the traditional location of the annual SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet) will now serve as the location for numerous special events. The huge hall can be reconfigured with temporary walls to house multiple events each day. For 2015, the receptions for organizations ,such as the Truck and Off-Road Alliance, the Hot Rod Industry Alliance, the Professional Restylers Organization and the Young Executives Network, will hold their functions in these locations. In addition, the New Products Breakfast and the NHRA Breakfast will also be held there. Then, on Thursday evening, the Event Center will be reconfigured for the Industry Awards Banquet. Tickets for special events and educational sessions are available when you register for the Show. If you have already registered and would like to order special-event tickets, simply follow the instructions and shortcut link in your registration confirmation e-mail.

	Both inside and out, the SEMA Show’s attractions are nirvana for automotive professionals. Ford Out Front, the Car Crazy Stage, the Baja 1000 Experience and hundreds of display vehicles are major exterior must-sees.

Ford Out Front
Located in the Silver parking lot in front of Central Hall, this year’s edition of Ford Out Front brings the Ford performance story to life. Show attendees will be able to experience the thrill of riding in a collection of fire-breathing machines. The days at Ford Out Front will be filled with exhibitions by professional drivers such as Ken Block, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Jack Roush Jr. and Justin Pawlak, and SEMA attendees can attack the track in Shelby GT350 Mustangs, Ford Raptors and the new Focus RS as well as Superformance Cobras piloted by Ford Performance Driving School instructors or other notable professionals. The SEMA Show is the only location around the globe to offer this line-up and experience. Don’t miss it!

SCORE Baja 1000 Experience
The lot at the front of the Las Vegas Convention Center will once again be transformed into the ultimate off-road and desert-racing exhibit for the 2015 SEMA Show. The SCORE Baja 1000 Experience will include race-related displays and activities, culminating in a live qualifying event for the 2015 SCORE International Baja 1000, and the grounds will feature Baja 1000 Trophy Truck and Class 1 race vehicles. A prominent stage will host all of the press and SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying activities and presentations.

Transportation Hubs
Getting from an official hotel to the LVCC is even easier this year, with complimentary shuttle-bus service provided each morning along with inter-venue service between the SEMA Show and the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo at the Sands Expo Center throughout the day. Pick-up locations at the LVCC are between the Central and North Halls, at the East end of the Grand Lobby and at the East side of the Performance Pavilion. In addition, the Las Vegas Monorail has extended its hours during the SEMA Show. Board the monorail as early as 7:00 a.m., Tuesday through Friday, with service continuing until 2:00 a.m. each day.

Nitto Tire Media Center
The Nitto Tire Media Center is available exclusively to credentialed media at the SEMA Show. Editors and reporters have access to expedited registration, working computers, dedicated Wi-Fi, lounge areas, private work areas, lockers, food and beverages, exhibitor press materials and more. The media center will be housed in room S220 of the Skybridge passageway between the Central and South Halls. For complete Nitto Tire Media Center and other press-related information, visit www.SEMAShow.com/media.

Shell at the Show
In a landmark return to the SEMA Show, Shell will present “From Classics to Modern Innovation,” as the company hosts legendary and modern automotive personalities on its sound stage and displays enviable vehicles throughout the Show. Co-hosting the Shell events will be broadcast veteran Alan Taylor and “Car Chasers” star and Flat 12 Gallery co-owner Jeff Allen. Among the performance, customization and restoration talent on hand will be John Hennessey, owner of Hennessey Performance and creator of the Hennessey Venom GT, the fastest production car in the world. For the true gearheads in the crowd, lubricants technology experts for the Pennzoil, Quaker State and Shell Rotella brands will be on hand to answer questions about engine protection and performance. Visit the Shell SEMA Show booth #60005 in front of the LVCC.

Car Crazy Studio
Host Barry Meguiar will be at the microphone in the Car Crazy Studio on the outside plaza in front of the convention center. The Car Crazy stage has become a staple at the SEMA Show, with interviews broadcast on screens throughout the LVCC. Meguiar keeps up a running commentary with featured automotive celebrities from the racing, custom-car and aftermarket innovation realms. Watch the action in person at the stage or watch for the lively conversations on the big screens within the exhibit halls.

Center for International Commerce
Centrally located within the LVCC, the Center for International Commerce (CIC) is a valuable resource for SEMA Show exhibitors and international buyers. SEMA international staff will be on hand at the CIC along with a team of interpreters to assist in bilingual communication in key languages that include German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Complimentary private meeting rooms, lounge areas and Wi-Fi are also available.

The SEMA Show also plays host to the International Happy Hour at the CIC, Wednesday, November 4, 5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. With 1,000 international buyers, exhibitors and media, the event is the world’s largest international networking gathering of automotive specialty-equipment companies. Top international media from key overseas markets will also be
in attendance.

SEMA Data Co-op
In addition to a series of seminars designed to help members create great data and sell more parts, staff from the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) will once again be on hand in booth #20579 of the Central Hall, one floor up directly behind the Ford display. The big news this year is the introduction of SEMA Search, an online product look-up tool powered by the SDC product information library. SEMA Search will allow member retailers, including countermen and sales consultants at brick-and-mortar retail outlets, to find and present digital product information and images from their manufacturer partners to their customers. Be sure to stop by the SDC booth for a demonstration of this new tool’s capabilities, and check out www.SEMAShow.com/education for scheduled SDC seminars detailing data management and optimization.

Toyo Tires Treadpass
The Toyo Tires Treadpass between the back of the South and Central Halls offers not only a convenient covered transit path between exhibitor displays but also its own array of customized cars, trucks and big rigs. The Treadpass traditionally offers a convenient lounge between the halls where attendees can also take advantage of charging stations for their electronics. Toyo’s tire displays provide an in-depth look at the technology, features and benefits of the brand’s offerings.

TORA Media Preview
Credentialed journalists can avoid the rush of 60,000 buyers to get a sneak peek at some of the newest parts and accessories for the largest vehicle segment in the automotive aftermarket at the SEMA Light-Truck Accessory Alliance (TORA) Media Preview. A limited number of TORA manufacturers will have their new products on display, with representatives available for interviews from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., Monday, November 2, in the Nitto Tire Media Center. Editors and reporters will be able to ask questions and have the opportunity to photograph the products.

SEMA Central
Located in the Grand Lobby of the LVCC between the North and Central Halls, SEMA Central will house the SEMA membership pod, where attendees can discover the many productivity and money-saving benefits of joining the association. SEMA Central will also be the place where you can pick up your tickets to the Industry Awards Banquet. In addition, SEMA Central will feature two other pods—one dedicated to the SEMA Garage and the other to the SEMA Data Co-op. All three will offer information about the organizations’ services as well as displays that include 3D printing and product scanning using the SEMA’s FaroArm coordinate measuring machine.

SEMA Art Walk
From sculptures to oil paintings and line drawings, automotive fine art captures renowned vehicles, race action, historic events and the personalities who built the industry. An amazing collection will be on display at the SEMA Art Walk, located this year at the base of the escalator leading from Central Hall to the Skybridge. Visit the site to meet artist Max Grundy, legendary events promoter Bob Larivee Sr. and other creative talents.

Battle of the Builders
Automotive customization is art. Whether the vehicle is a car or a truck, a hot rod or an exotic, top customizers create rolling sculptures with power, performance and perfect sheetmetal. The Battle of the Builders seeks to identify the pinnacle of the form. The competition is open to customizers who have vehicles on display at the 2015 SEMA Show. Editors from leading automotive magazines select the top 10 finalists for the competition, and then the finalists themselves became the judges who select the ultimate winner. To register for the Battle of the Builders, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

SEMA Cruise and SEMA Ignited
The fun doesn’t stop when the SEMA Show closes on Friday. The now-traditional SEMA Cruise—a parade of 500+ display vehicles that have appeared at the Show all week—will wind its way from the LVCC around the exhibit halls and across Paradise Road to the Gold Lot, where they will line up for the second annual SEMA Ignited after-party. Unlike the SEMA Show, this event is open to the public, allowing participating exhibitors to reveal their innovations to consumers. This automotive festival will feature four “villages” dedicated to vehicles from the off-road, hot rod, sport compact and overall segments of the industry. Multiple stages will offer a variety of entertainment; Formula D will provide drift demonstrations; and a midway populated with displays and big rigs will draw the multitudes. For more information, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

Don’t miss any of it! Register now to attend the 2015 SEMA Show.

SEMA News—October 2015

EVENTS

Compiled by Steve Campbell

Must-See Features at the 2015 SEMA Show

From Cars & Coffee to the Ultimate Automotive After-Party

	The 2015 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center will offer a profusion of sensory delights. Thousands will be in attendance, and they’ll have plenty to see.

At 1.16 million sq. ft. of exhibit space, the SEMA Show draws thousands of exhibitors, buyers, media and other attendees to a four-day car, truck and powersports extravaganza. The grounds of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)—both within the exhibit halls and in the surrounding spaces—offer a profusion of sensory delights. In the listings below, we’ve detailed just a few of the highlights.

Registration

To get in, you’ve got to be a member of the trade, and the first step is to register. The registration area for this year’s SEMA Show will be in the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, and there are convenient shuttle drop-offs adjacent to that area. On-site registration will be open to exhibitors beginning Thursday, October 29, at 8:00 a.m., and for buyers beginning Sunday, November 1, at 8:00 a.m. Registration will close for the 2015 event at 2:00 p.m. Friday, November 6.

For the ultimate in convenience, register online at www.SEMAShow.com/registration. Either way, registration is only $25 until October 16, after which the price increases to $75. But don’t lose your badge once you have it; replacement badges will entail a $100 charge. For complete information about registering, visit
www.SEMAShow.com/faq.

New Products Showcase

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, provides exhibitors with a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity.

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, is perennially the number-one buyer and media destination at the SEMA Show. The Showcase is available to all exhibitors and provides a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity. Exhibitors should take advantage of the opportunity to unveil their latest or greatest products to key players in the industry, and Show attendees should make every effort to scour the New Products Showcase displays for the products that will set retail shelves afire in the coming year. To make things even more efficient, buyers and media can take advantage of free electronic scanners that allow them to download photos and information instantaneously. For more information about placing a product in the Showcase, visit www.SEMAShow.com/ideas-alive-featuring-the-new-products-showcase.

Cars & Coffee
Each morning of the SEMA Show from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m., Cars & Coffee, SEMA Edition, gives attendees a great place to get a jumpstart on the day while checking out some cool vehicles and mingling with colleagues. Cars & Coffee will be located between the Westgate and the North Hall of the LVCC, where more than 80 Optima Street Car competitors will be lined up on the full length of the street between the buildings. The Optima vehicles run the gamut of street-legal vehicles from exotics and musclecars to trucks. After the SEMA Show, the vehicles on display will compete with others November 6–8 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the 2015 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. Get an up-close look at the competitors while quaffing a cup of Joe.

Keynote & Coffee
Another great way to kickstart each day of the SEMA Show is Keynote & Coffee. This series of free seminars features thought leaders in business and industry to help attendees burnish their mornings with stimulating perspectives on how to look at business in a slightly different way. The Monday session kicks off at 9:00 a.m., and every morning after that at 8:00 a.m., before the exhibit halls open and the regular conference sessions begin. Give your brain a chance to get moving with new ideas about the industry before you plunge into your day’s activities—and you’ll get a free cup of coffee to go along with it!

Performance Pavilion
The 2015 SEMA Show will include a new exhibitor expansion area adjacent to the South Hall. The Performance Pavilion, a new location for first-time and featured exhibitors, will be located near shuttle bus, taxi and limo drop-off and pickup points, making it a primary thoroughfare into the SEMA Show. Buyers and media in particular should be sure to check out the offerings housed in this new locale.

Professional Education
The Show is all about business, and part of attaining success in the industry is understanding business processes ranging from social media, marketing and advertising to the sales and installation of specific products. The 2015 SEMA Show offers a vast array of learning opportunities through Education Days. The schedule this year includes more than 100 sessions, many of which are free to attendees. Topics range from automotive electronics and business technology to product training and a complete slate of collision and repair courses. Visit www.SEMAShow.com/education to sign up for sessions that will help you optimize how you build and run your business.

Collision Repair and Refinish Stage
In addition to SEMA Education Institute’s broader business offerings, a specific track is available for trade professionals in the the collision and repair side of the industry. These individuals should check out the Repairer Driven Education series being hosted by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (visit www.SEMAShow.com/scrs). In addition to seminars, the series includes several live demonstrations at the Collision Repair and Refinish Stage in the North Hall of the LVCC. The Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair will co-host the stage, and topics include structural measuring in the blueprinting process, capturing all necessary elements for welded replacement components, structural adhesive bonding and much more.

Networking and Social Events
To help open space for even more exhibiting companies, the Paradise Event Center (the traditional location of the annual SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet) will now serve as the location for numerous special events. The huge hall can be reconfigured with temporary walls to house multiple events each day. For 2015, the receptions for organizations ,such as the Truck and Off-Road Alliance, the Hot Rod Industry Alliance, the Professional Restylers Organization and the Young Executives Network, will hold their functions in these locations. In addition, the New Products Breakfast and the NHRA Breakfast will also be held there. Then, on Thursday evening, the Event Center will be reconfigured for the Industry Awards Banquet. Tickets for special events and educational sessions are available when you register for the Show. If you have already registered and would like to order special-event tickets, simply follow the instructions and shortcut link in your registration confirmation e-mail.

	Both inside and out, the SEMA Show’s attractions are nirvana for automotive professionals. Ford Out Front, the Car Crazy Stage, the Baja 1000 Experience and hundreds of display vehicles are major exterior must-sees.

Ford Out Front
Located in the Silver parking lot in front of Central Hall, this year’s edition of Ford Out Front brings the Ford performance story to life. Show attendees will be able to experience the thrill of riding in a collection of fire-breathing machines. The days at Ford Out Front will be filled with exhibitions by professional drivers such as Ken Block, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Jack Roush Jr. and Justin Pawlak, and SEMA attendees can attack the track in Shelby GT350 Mustangs, Ford Raptors and the new Focus RS as well as Superformance Cobras piloted by Ford Performance Driving School instructors or other notable professionals. The SEMA Show is the only location around the globe to offer this line-up and experience. Don’t miss it!

SCORE Baja 1000 Experience
The lot at the front of the Las Vegas Convention Center will once again be transformed into the ultimate off-road and desert-racing exhibit for the 2015 SEMA Show. The SCORE Baja 1000 Experience will include race-related displays and activities, culminating in a live qualifying event for the 2015 SCORE International Baja 1000, and the grounds will feature Baja 1000 Trophy Truck and Class 1 race vehicles. A prominent stage will host all of the press and SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying activities and presentations.

Transportation Hubs
Getting from an official hotel to the LVCC is even easier this year, with complimentary shuttle-bus service provided each morning along with inter-venue service between the SEMA Show and the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo at the Sands Expo Center throughout the day. Pick-up locations at the LVCC are between the Central and North Halls, at the East end of the Grand Lobby and at the East side of the Performance Pavilion. In addition, the Las Vegas Monorail has extended its hours during the SEMA Show. Board the monorail as early as 7:00 a.m., Tuesday through Friday, with service continuing until 2:00 a.m. each day.

Nitto Tire Media Center
The Nitto Tire Media Center is available exclusively to credentialed media at the SEMA Show. Editors and reporters have access to expedited registration, working computers, dedicated Wi-Fi, lounge areas, private work areas, lockers, food and beverages, exhibitor press materials and more. The media center will be housed in room S220 of the Skybridge passageway between the Central and South Halls. For complete Nitto Tire Media Center and other press-related information, visit www.SEMAShow.com/media.

Shell at the Show
In a landmark return to the SEMA Show, Shell will present “From Classics to Modern Innovation,” as the company hosts legendary and modern automotive personalities on its sound stage and displays enviable vehicles throughout the Show. Co-hosting the Shell events will be broadcast veteran Alan Taylor and “Car Chasers” star and Flat 12 Gallery co-owner Jeff Allen. Among the performance, customization and restoration talent on hand will be John Hennessey, owner of Hennessey Performance and creator of the Hennessey Venom GT, the fastest production car in the world. For the true gearheads in the crowd, lubricants technology experts for the Pennzoil, Quaker State and Shell Rotella brands will be on hand to answer questions about engine protection and performance. Visit the Shell SEMA Show booth #60005 in front of the LVCC.

Car Crazy Studio
Host Barry Meguiar will be at the microphone in the Car Crazy Studio on the outside plaza in front of the convention center. The Car Crazy stage has become a staple at the SEMA Show, with interviews broadcast on screens throughout the LVCC. Meguiar keeps up a running commentary with featured automotive celebrities from the racing, custom-car and aftermarket innovation realms. Watch the action in person at the stage or watch for the lively conversations on the big screens within the exhibit halls.

Center for International Commerce
Centrally located within the LVCC, the Center for International Commerce (CIC) is a valuable resource for SEMA Show exhibitors and international buyers. SEMA international staff will be on hand at the CIC along with a team of interpreters to assist in bilingual communication in key languages that include German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Complimentary private meeting rooms, lounge areas and Wi-Fi are also available.

The SEMA Show also plays host to the International Happy Hour at the CIC, Wednesday, November 4, 5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. With 1,000 international buyers, exhibitors and media, the event is the world’s largest international networking gathering of automotive specialty-equipment companies. Top international media from key overseas markets will also be
in attendance.

SEMA Data Co-op
In addition to a series of seminars designed to help members create great data and sell more parts, staff from the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) will once again be on hand in booth #20579 of the Central Hall, one floor up directly behind the Ford display. The big news this year is the introduction of SEMA Search, an online product look-up tool powered by the SDC product information library. SEMA Search will allow member retailers, including countermen and sales consultants at brick-and-mortar retail outlets, to find and present digital product information and images from their manufacturer partners to their customers. Be sure to stop by the SDC booth for a demonstration of this new tool’s capabilities, and check out www.SEMAShow.com/education for scheduled SDC seminars detailing data management and optimization.

Toyo Tires Treadpass
The Toyo Tires Treadpass between the back of the South and Central Halls offers not only a convenient covered transit path between exhibitor displays but also its own array of customized cars, trucks and big rigs. The Treadpass traditionally offers a convenient lounge between the halls where attendees can also take advantage of charging stations for their electronics. Toyo’s tire displays provide an in-depth look at the technology, features and benefits of the brand’s offerings.

TORA Media Preview
Credentialed journalists can avoid the rush of 60,000 buyers to get a sneak peek at some of the newest parts and accessories for the largest vehicle segment in the automotive aftermarket at the SEMA Light-Truck Accessory Alliance (TORA) Media Preview. A limited number of TORA manufacturers will have their new products on display, with representatives available for interviews from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., Monday, November 2, in the Nitto Tire Media Center. Editors and reporters will be able to ask questions and have the opportunity to photograph the products.

SEMA Central
Located in the Grand Lobby of the LVCC between the North and Central Halls, SEMA Central will house the SEMA membership pod, where attendees can discover the many productivity and money-saving benefits of joining the association. SEMA Central will also be the place where you can pick up your tickets to the Industry Awards Banquet. In addition, SEMA Central will feature two other pods—one dedicated to the SEMA Garage and the other to the SEMA Data Co-op. All three will offer information about the organizations’ services as well as displays that include 3D printing and product scanning using the SEMA’s FaroArm coordinate measuring machine.

SEMA Art Walk
From sculptures to oil paintings and line drawings, automotive fine art captures renowned vehicles, race action, historic events and the personalities who built the industry. An amazing collection will be on display at the SEMA Art Walk, located this year at the base of the escalator leading from Central Hall to the Skybridge. Visit the site to meet artist Max Grundy, legendary events promoter Bob Larivee Sr. and other creative talents.

Battle of the Builders
Automotive customization is art. Whether the vehicle is a car or a truck, a hot rod or an exotic, top customizers create rolling sculptures with power, performance and perfect sheetmetal. The Battle of the Builders seeks to identify the pinnacle of the form. The competition is open to customizers who have vehicles on display at the 2015 SEMA Show. Editors from leading automotive magazines select the top 10 finalists for the competition, and then the finalists themselves became the judges who select the ultimate winner. To register for the Battle of the Builders, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

SEMA Cruise and SEMA Ignited
The fun doesn’t stop when the SEMA Show closes on Friday. The now-traditional SEMA Cruise—a parade of 500+ display vehicles that have appeared at the Show all week—will wind its way from the LVCC around the exhibit halls and across Paradise Road to the Gold Lot, where they will line up for the second annual SEMA Ignited after-party. Unlike the SEMA Show, this event is open to the public, allowing participating exhibitors to reveal their innovations to consumers. This automotive festival will feature four “villages” dedicated to vehicles from the off-road, hot rod, sport compact and overall segments of the industry. Multiple stages will offer a variety of entertainment; Formula D will provide drift demonstrations; and a midway populated with displays and big rigs will draw the multitudes. For more information, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

Don’t miss any of it! Register now to attend the 2015 SEMA Show.

SEMA News—October 2015

EVENTS

Compiled by Steve Campbell

Must-See Features at the 2015 SEMA Show

From Cars & Coffee to the Ultimate Automotive After-Party

	The 2015 SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center will offer a profusion of sensory delights. Thousands will be in attendance, and they’ll have plenty to see.

At 1.16 million sq. ft. of exhibit space, the SEMA Show draws thousands of exhibitors, buyers, media and other attendees to a four-day car, truck and powersports extravaganza. The grounds of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)—both within the exhibit halls and in the surrounding spaces—offer a profusion of sensory delights. In the listings below, we’ve detailed just a few of the highlights.

Registration

To get in, you’ve got to be a member of the trade, and the first step is to register. The registration area for this year’s SEMA Show will be in the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, and there are convenient shuttle drop-offs adjacent to that area. On-site registration will be open to exhibitors beginning Thursday, October 29, at 8:00 a.m., and for buyers beginning Sunday, November 1, at 8:00 a.m. Registration will close for the 2015 event at 2:00 p.m. Friday, November 6.

For the ultimate in convenience, register online at www.SEMAShow.com/registration. Either way, registration is only $25 until October 16, after which the price increases to $75. But don’t lose your badge once you have it; replacement badges will entail a $100 charge. For complete information about registering, visit
www.SEMAShow.com/faq.

New Products Showcase

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, provides exhibitors with a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity.

The New Products Showcase, located on the Skybridge between Central and South Halls this year, is perennially the number-one buyer and media destination at the SEMA Show. The Showcase is available to all exhibitors and provides a unique opportunity to increase exposure and gain additional publicity. Exhibitors should take advantage of the opportunity to unveil their latest or greatest products to key players in the industry, and Show attendees should make every effort to scour the New Products Showcase displays for the products that will set retail shelves afire in the coming year. To make things even more efficient, buyers and media can take advantage of free electronic scanners that allow them to download photos and information instantaneously. For more information about placing a product in the Showcase, visit www.SEMAShow.com/ideas-alive-featuring-the-new-products-showcase.

Cars & Coffee
Each morning of the SEMA Show from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m., Cars & Coffee, SEMA Edition, gives attendees a great place to get a jumpstart on the day while checking out some cool vehicles and mingling with colleagues. Cars & Coffee will be located between the Westgate and the North Hall of the LVCC, where more than 80 Optima Street Car competitors will be lined up on the full length of the street between the buildings. The Optima vehicles run the gamut of street-legal vehicles from exotics and musclecars to trucks. After the SEMA Show, the vehicles on display will compete with others November 6–8 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the 2015 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. Get an up-close look at the competitors while quaffing a cup of Joe.

Keynote & Coffee
Another great way to kickstart each day of the SEMA Show is Keynote & Coffee. This series of free seminars features thought leaders in business and industry to help attendees burnish their mornings with stimulating perspectives on how to look at business in a slightly different way. The Monday session kicks off at 9:00 a.m., and every morning after that at 8:00 a.m., before the exhibit halls open and the regular conference sessions begin. Give your brain a chance to get moving with new ideas about the industry before you plunge into your day’s activities—and you’ll get a free cup of coffee to go along with it!

Performance Pavilion
The 2015 SEMA Show will include a new exhibitor expansion area adjacent to the South Hall. The Performance Pavilion, a new location for first-time and featured exhibitors, will be located near shuttle bus, taxi and limo drop-off and pickup points, making it a primary thoroughfare into the SEMA Show. Buyers and media in particular should be sure to check out the offerings housed in this new locale.

Professional Education
The Show is all about business, and part of attaining success in the industry is understanding business processes ranging from social media, marketing and advertising to the sales and installation of specific products. The 2015 SEMA Show offers a vast array of learning opportunities through Education Days. The schedule this year includes more than 100 sessions, many of which are free to attendees. Topics range from automotive electronics and business technology to product training and a complete slate of collision and repair courses. Visit www.SEMAShow.com/education to sign up for sessions that will help you optimize how you build and run your business.

Collision Repair and Refinish Stage
In addition to SEMA Education Institute’s broader business offerings, a specific track is available for trade professionals in the the collision and repair side of the industry. These individuals should check out the Repairer Driven Education series being hosted by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (visit www.SEMAShow.com/scrs). In addition to seminars, the series includes several live demonstrations at the Collision Repair and Refinish Stage in the North Hall of the LVCC. The Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair will co-host the stage, and topics include structural measuring in the blueprinting process, capturing all necessary elements for welded replacement components, structural adhesive bonding and much more.

Networking and Social Events
To help open space for even more exhibiting companies, the Paradise Event Center (the traditional location of the annual SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet) will now serve as the location for numerous special events. The huge hall can be reconfigured with temporary walls to house multiple events each day. For 2015, the receptions for organizations ,such as the Truck and Off-Road Alliance, the Hot Rod Industry Alliance, the Professional Restylers Organization and the Young Executives Network, will hold their functions in these locations. In addition, the New Products Breakfast and the NHRA Breakfast will also be held there. Then, on Thursday evening, the Event Center will be reconfigured for the Industry Awards Banquet. Tickets for special events and educational sessions are available when you register for the Show. If you have already registered and would like to order special-event tickets, simply follow the instructions and shortcut link in your registration confirmation e-mail.

	Both inside and out, the SEMA Show’s attractions are nirvana for automotive professionals. Ford Out Front, the Car Crazy Stage, the Baja 1000 Experience and hundreds of display vehicles are major exterior must-sees.

Ford Out Front
Located in the Silver parking lot in front of Central Hall, this year’s edition of Ford Out Front brings the Ford performance story to life. Show attendees will be able to experience the thrill of riding in a collection of fire-breathing machines. The days at Ford Out Front will be filled with exhibitions by professional drivers such as Ken Block, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Jack Roush Jr. and Justin Pawlak, and SEMA attendees can attack the track in Shelby GT350 Mustangs, Ford Raptors and the new Focus RS as well as Superformance Cobras piloted by Ford Performance Driving School instructors or other notable professionals. The SEMA Show is the only location around the globe to offer this line-up and experience. Don’t miss it!

SCORE Baja 1000 Experience
The lot at the front of the Las Vegas Convention Center will once again be transformed into the ultimate off-road and desert-racing exhibit for the 2015 SEMA Show. The SCORE Baja 1000 Experience will include race-related displays and activities, culminating in a live qualifying event for the 2015 SCORE International Baja 1000, and the grounds will feature Baja 1000 Trophy Truck and Class 1 race vehicles. A prominent stage will host all of the press and SCORE Baja 1000 qualifying activities and presentations.

Transportation Hubs
Getting from an official hotel to the LVCC is even easier this year, with complimentary shuttle-bus service provided each morning along with inter-venue service between the SEMA Show and the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo at the Sands Expo Center throughout the day. Pick-up locations at the LVCC are between the Central and North Halls, at the East end of the Grand Lobby and at the East side of the Performance Pavilion. In addition, the Las Vegas Monorail has extended its hours during the SEMA Show. Board the monorail as early as 7:00 a.m., Tuesday through Friday, with service continuing until 2:00 a.m. each day.

Nitto Tire Media Center
The Nitto Tire Media Center is available exclusively to credentialed media at the SEMA Show. Editors and reporters have access to expedited registration, working computers, dedicated Wi-Fi, lounge areas, private work areas, lockers, food and beverages, exhibitor press materials and more. The media center will be housed in room S220 of the Skybridge passageway between the Central and South Halls. For complete Nitto Tire Media Center and other press-related information, visit www.SEMAShow.com/media.

Shell at the Show
In a landmark return to the SEMA Show, Shell will present “From Classics to Modern Innovation,” as the company hosts legendary and modern automotive personalities on its sound stage and displays enviable vehicles throughout the Show. Co-hosting the Shell events will be broadcast veteran Alan Taylor and “Car Chasers” star and Flat 12 Gallery co-owner Jeff Allen. Among the performance, customization and restoration talent on hand will be John Hennessey, owner of Hennessey Performance and creator of the Hennessey Venom GT, the fastest production car in the world. For the true gearheads in the crowd, lubricants technology experts for the Pennzoil, Quaker State and Shell Rotella brands will be on hand to answer questions about engine protection and performance. Visit the Shell SEMA Show booth #60005 in front of the LVCC.

Car Crazy Studio
Host Barry Meguiar will be at the microphone in the Car Crazy Studio on the outside plaza in front of the convention center. The Car Crazy stage has become a staple at the SEMA Show, with interviews broadcast on screens throughout the LVCC. Meguiar keeps up a running commentary with featured automotive celebrities from the racing, custom-car and aftermarket innovation realms. Watch the action in person at the stage or watch for the lively conversations on the big screens within the exhibit halls.

Center for International Commerce
Centrally located within the LVCC, the Center for International Commerce (CIC) is a valuable resource for SEMA Show exhibitors and international buyers. SEMA international staff will be on hand at the CIC along with a team of interpreters to assist in bilingual communication in key languages that include German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Complimentary private meeting rooms, lounge areas and Wi-Fi are also available.

The SEMA Show also plays host to the International Happy Hour at the CIC, Wednesday, November 4, 5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. With 1,000 international buyers, exhibitors and media, the event is the world’s largest international networking gathering of automotive specialty-equipment companies. Top international media from key overseas markets will also be
in attendance.

SEMA Data Co-op
In addition to a series of seminars designed to help members create great data and sell more parts, staff from the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) will once again be on hand in booth #20579 of the Central Hall, one floor up directly behind the Ford display. The big news this year is the introduction of SEMA Search, an online product look-up tool powered by the SDC product information library. SEMA Search will allow member retailers, including countermen and sales consultants at brick-and-mortar retail outlets, to find and present digital product information and images from their manufacturer partners to their customers. Be sure to stop by the SDC booth for a demonstration of this new tool’s capabilities, and check out www.SEMAShow.com/education for scheduled SDC seminars detailing data management and optimization.

Toyo Tires Treadpass
The Toyo Tires Treadpass between the back of the South and Central Halls offers not only a convenient covered transit path between exhibitor displays but also its own array of customized cars, trucks and big rigs. The Treadpass traditionally offers a convenient lounge between the halls where attendees can also take advantage of charging stations for their electronics. Toyo’s tire displays provide an in-depth look at the technology, features and benefits of the brand’s offerings.

TORA Media Preview
Credentialed journalists can avoid the rush of 60,000 buyers to get a sneak peek at some of the newest parts and accessories for the largest vehicle segment in the automotive aftermarket at the SEMA Light-Truck Accessory Alliance (TORA) Media Preview. A limited number of TORA manufacturers will have their new products on display, with representatives available for interviews from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., Monday, November 2, in the Nitto Tire Media Center. Editors and reporters will be able to ask questions and have the opportunity to photograph the products.

SEMA Central
Located in the Grand Lobby of the LVCC between the North and Central Halls, SEMA Central will house the SEMA membership pod, where attendees can discover the many productivity and money-saving benefits of joining the association. SEMA Central will also be the place where you can pick up your tickets to the Industry Awards Banquet. In addition, SEMA Central will feature two other pods—one dedicated to the SEMA Garage and the other to the SEMA Data Co-op. All three will offer information about the organizations’ services as well as displays that include 3D printing and product scanning using the SEMA’s FaroArm coordinate measuring machine.

SEMA Art Walk
From sculptures to oil paintings and line drawings, automotive fine art captures renowned vehicles, race action, historic events and the personalities who built the industry. An amazing collection will be on display at the SEMA Art Walk, located this year at the base of the escalator leading from Central Hall to the Skybridge. Visit the site to meet artist Max Grundy, legendary events promoter Bob Larivee Sr. and other creative talents.

Battle of the Builders
Automotive customization is art. Whether the vehicle is a car or a truck, a hot rod or an exotic, top customizers create rolling sculptures with power, performance and perfect sheetmetal. The Battle of the Builders seeks to identify the pinnacle of the form. The competition is open to customizers who have vehicles on display at the 2015 SEMA Show. Editors from leading automotive magazines select the top 10 finalists for the competition, and then the finalists themselves became the judges who select the ultimate winner. To register for the Battle of the Builders, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

SEMA Cruise and SEMA Ignited
The fun doesn’t stop when the SEMA Show closes on Friday. The now-traditional SEMA Cruise—a parade of 500+ display vehicles that have appeared at the Show all week—will wind its way from the LVCC around the exhibit halls and across Paradise Road to the Gold Lot, where they will line up for the second annual SEMA Ignited after-party. Unlike the SEMA Show, this event is open to the public, allowing participating exhibitors to reveal their innovations to consumers. This automotive festival will feature four “villages” dedicated to vehicles from the off-road, hot rod, sport compact and overall segments of the industry. Multiple stages will offer a variety of entertainment; Formula D will provide drift demonstrations; and a midway populated with displays and big rigs will draw the multitudes. For more information, visit www.SEMAignited.com.

Don’t miss any of it! Register now to attend the 2015 SEMA Show.

By John Stewart

Three OEMs chose the State Fair of Texas in Dallas to announce details about notable fullsize pickups. Because of their high-volume numbers and broad applications, these trucks are likely to become significant raw material for SEMA-member companies.

	The ’16 Silverado 1500 features a fully boxed high-strength steel frame and a body structure.

The New ’16 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

The ’16 Silverado 1500 features a fully boxed high-strength steel frame and a body structure that not only makes extensive use of high-strength steels, but also roll-formed steel beds, which are stronger and lighter than conventional steel.

Customers can choose from three advanced EcoTec3 engines. All three feature direct fuel injection, continuously variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation, also known as Active Fuel Management, for improved power and efficiency. All switch to four-cylinder mode under light load conditions. Silverado’s standard 4.3L V6 is SAE certified at 285 hp and 305 lb.-ft. of torque—the most torque of any standard V6.

The 5.3L V8 is certified at 355 hp and 383 lb.-ft. of torque. Offering an EPA highway estimate of 23 mpg, it is the most fuel-efficient V8 in any pickup.
Silverado’s available 6.2L V8 is certified at 420 hp and 460 lb.-ft. of torque—the most power and torque of any light-duty pickup. This engine also offers the highest towing of any V8 light-duty pickup—up to 12,000 lbs.

For 2016, the new eight-speed automatic transmission that is standard on 6.2L-equipped Silverados will be standard on LTZ, LTZ/Z71 and High Country Silverados with the 5.3L V8.

The new eight-speed provides a numerically higher first-gear ratio to help drivers start off more confidently with a heavy load or when trailering. Its wider overall gear ratio spread also enables numerically lower rear-axle ratios, which reduce engine RPM on the highway.

Recent growth in Silverado sales have been accompanied by a strong Colorado launch, which has made Colorado the fastest-selling pickup in America. Colorado sales so far this year have passed the 59,000 mark in the United States alone.

	The ’17 Ford Super Duty will be built at Kentucky Truck Plant and goes on sale late next year.

’17 Ford Super Duty

Also revealed in Dallas, the all-new ’17 F-Series Super Duty pickup and chassis cab will use advanced materials to reduce weight and offer all-new technology to help increase customer productivity, comfort and convenience.

There will be five models in the Super Duty lineup: XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum. The new Super Duty will be built at Kentucky truck plant and goes on sale late next year.

The backbone is an all-new, fully boxed frame comprised of more than 95% high-strength steel—up to 24 times stiffer than the previous frame—enabling the most towing and hauling capability ever delivered by Super Duty. The new truck line features heavier-duty four-wheel-drive components, driveline, axles and towing hardware.

For the first time, the Super Duty body uses high-strength, military-grade aluminum alloy, which is more dent- and ding-resistant than the outgoing steel body and not subject to red-rust corrosion.

Together, high-strength steel and high-strength aluminum alloy help reduce weight by up to 350 lbs. to give customers more towing and hauling capability.

Super Duty chassis cab features an all-new, high-strength steel frame with an open-C-channel design behind the cab to enable easy aftermarket body upfit and modification.

All-new advanced coaching and camera technology makes conventional and gooseneck/fifth-wheel towing easier and more efficient than ever. As many as seven cameras help customers see more angles and monitor conditions surrounding the truck, and provide better trailering than ever before.

The 6.2L V8 gasoline engine comes equipped with the new TorqShift-G transmission for the F-250 pickup, allowing for improved capability. The Super Duty chassis cab lineup offers a choice of 6.7L Power Stroke V8 diesel, 6.8L V10 gasoline or 6.2L V8 gasoline engines.

All three cabs—Regular Cab, SuperCab and Crew Cab—are longer and feature a new interior design, including a dual compartment glove box, overhead console-mounted auxiliary switches to operate aftermarket equipment and completely flat SuperCab and Crew Cab second-row floors that make loading large items in the cab easy. Vital controls are close at hand, with the integrated trailer brake controller switch located even closer to the driver.

	The ’16 Nissan Titan XD will be powered by a new Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel engine.

Nissan Titan XD

Nissan kicked off its biggest presence ever at the State Fair of Texas by displaying the all-new ’16 Nissan Titan XD fullsize pickup.

The XD is powered by a new Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel engine rated at 555 lb.-ft. of torque and is set to go on sale at Nissan dealers nationwide in December. The new Titan features a maximum towing capacity of more than 12,000 lbs. when properly equipped and will later be available in a total of three cab configurations, three bed lengths, two frame sizes, 4x4 and 4x2 drive and five grade levels.

"The key attributes of Titan XD is that it offers increased towing stability, along with more torque than a traditional half-ton pickup without the sacrifices of a harsh ride, unnecessary capability and higher price of a ¾-ton truck," said Fred Diaz, senior vice president, sales & marketing and operations, U.S.A., Nissan North America Inc.

Features include an integrated trailer brake controller, Trailer Sway Control (TSC), Tow/Haul Mode with Downhill Speed Control and a Trailer Light Check system that allows one-person hook-up operation, including checking turn signals, brake lights and running/clearance lights.

Also assisting trailer hook-ups is the Titan's RearView Monitor with Trailer Guides, while the available Around View Monitor (AVM) provides a virtual 360-degree “bird's-eye” view of the surrounding area from front, rear and side cameras to help with parking and pulling in and out of tight spaces. The system also includes Moving Object Detection (MOD), which helps detect moving objects, such as vehicles, shopping carts or other large objects near the vehicle when backing out via an on-screen notification and warning chime.

Helping Titan XD owners take advantage of towing power are two available hitches, including an integrated gooseneck hitch engineered into the frame and easily accessible in the bed.

The ’16 Titan XD was planned in Tennessee, designed in California, engineered in Michigan, tested in Arizona and assembled in Mississippi. Nissan currently employs more than 1,000 people in Texas at the Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation (NMAC), Nissan Central Region and a parts distribution center.

	As the top SEMA Show attraction, the New Products Showcase brings increased exposure, additional media coverage and qualified leads to participating exhibitors.

• Increased Exposure: As the number one buyer and media attraction at the SEMA Show, the Showcase helps products gain increased exposure and drive foot traffic to one’s booth.

• Qualified Leads: Buyers and media are able to scan noteworthy products on display to get more information about the product, including its manufacturer and booth location. In return, exhibitors obtain information on those who scanned their product.

• Professional Photographs: All products are professionally photographed. The photos are then made available to outside media and featured in upcoming issues of SEMA News.

• Expanded Hours: Buyers will be able to see the products on display before and after the Show floor opens/closes with the New Products Showcase extended hours and the Buyer Happy Hour.

	As the top SEMA Show attraction, the New Products Showcase brings increased exposure, additional media coverage and qualified leads to participating exhibitors.

• Increased Exposure: As the number one buyer and media attraction at the SEMA Show, the Showcase helps products gain increased exposure and drive foot traffic to one’s booth.

• Qualified Leads: Buyers and media are able to scan noteworthy products on display to get more information about the product, including its manufacturer and booth location. In return, exhibitors obtain information on those who scanned their product.

• Professional Photographs: All products are professionally photographed. The photos are then made available to outside media and featured in upcoming issues of SEMA News.

• Expanded Hours: Buyers will be able to see the products on display before and after the Show floor opens/closes with the New Products Showcase extended hours and the Buyer Happy Hour.

	As the top SEMA Show attraction, the New Products Showcase brings increased exposure, additional media coverage and qualified leads to participating exhibitors.

• Increased Exposure: As the number one buyer and media attraction at the SEMA Show, the Showcase helps products gain increased exposure and drive foot traffic to one’s booth.

• Qualified Leads: Buyers and media are able to scan noteworthy products on display to get more information about the product, including its manufacturer and booth location. In return, exhibitors obtain information on those who scanned their product.

• Professional Photographs: All products are professionally photographed. The photos are then made available to outside media and featured in upcoming issues of SEMA News.

• Expanded Hours: Buyers will be able to see the products on display before and after the Show floor opens/closes with the New Products Showcase extended hours and the Buyer Happy Hour.

SEMA News—October 2015

RESEARCH

By Steve Campbell

2015 SEMA Market Report

New Features Reveal Consumer Buying Habits

The 2015 SEMA Market Report is now available for free download by SEMA members at www.SEMA.org/automotive-aftermarket-research. It uses a combination of historical data, a new consumer survey and other reference tools to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

Each year, SEMA’s research department produces a report that explores the automotive specialty-equipment market. The report examines the size of the market while also looking at different product segments, vehicle niches and sales trends. For more than 20 years, the report has been compiled based on data culled from industry manufacturers, providing an outward view of what their businesses are selling. For the first time, the research team has now added an element based on consumer feedback. The goal of the 2015 SEMA Market Report (available free to association members at www.sema.org/automotive-aftermarket-research) is to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

“The starting point for our market numbers is the parts that get sold through distributors and the amount of revenue made from them,” said Gavin Knapp, director of SEMA market research. “We show not just the types of parts or the niches they get sold into but also where these parts were sold within the market based on input from manufacturers.”

What had been missing, the research team found—particularly as the Internet changed the marketplace—was a clear picture of what was going on in the retail side: what customers were buying, how they were purchasing products and where they were shopping.

“Developing this new data set from the consumer standpoint allows us to get more specific and more granular about product groupings,” Knapp explained. “Instead of just being able to say that the whole market’s products are sold in specific types of places, we can now tell you which specific product categories are sold at which retail venues and in what proportions. That is the key to the new data.”

The new information comes from a survey of 20,000 consumers who are representative of the United States population. They were asked what kinds of cars they own and what parts and accessories they upgraded, modified or replaced, and the research also drills down to where they purchased the products.

	The report shows that each product segment improved in 2014, with handling products displaying a particularly strong increase of almost 12%.

“Keep in mind that both sides are estimates based on samples,” Knapp said. “Nowhere in our industry does every transaction get reported and aggregated. On each side, we have to take a sampling of information and then extrapolate that information to the whole population. The manufacturing data encompasses pretty much all of the specialty-equipment parts sales, including those for passenger cars and light trucks as well as some parts that go to things such as powersports and marine applications. Obviously, we’re not going after motorcycle parts directly, but these would be crossover parts that may play into those areas. We focused our new consumer data specifically on passenger vehicles alone—cars and trucks. So you have the manufacturers reporting their gross sales on the one side and consumers reporting how much they’ve spent on the other side.”

That crossover probably accounts for the discrepancy between sales reported by manufacturers and purchases reported by consumers. The historical industry sales figure charted in the report’s overview is $36.15 billion, while consumer market purchases come to $34.58 billion. (Readers should also understand that the numbers are based on the 2014 calendar year, so the 2015 report indicates market conditions at the beginning of 2015.)

Looking at the historical data first, the marketplace is trending upward nicely after the recession, with 8.2% overall growth from 2013 to 2014. Economic stability and the rising number of new-vehicle sales for the past several years has put the industry back on a growth trend, the report states, marking the fifth year of increased sales for the specialty-equipment market. And while manufacturers reported that all segments are improving, the wheel, tire and suspension segment made notable gains of 11.7% over the previous year.

“Some of that is driven by the return of disposable income as the economy strengthens,” Knapp said. “It also makes sense that truck owners are now spending more on those items that particularly affect their vehicles. If you look at our vehicle niches, you’ll see that street performance has maintained the greatest growth, but growth in the truck segment was also significant. Truck is also one of those categories where some traditional accessories have been co-opted by the automakers, so now pickups roll off the showroom floors already equipped with items such as sidesteps and bedliners, and the newly disposable income has shifted to other things such as wheels, tires and suspension.”

According to retail information collected from consumers, the automotive specialty-equipment industry is presently valued at $34.6 billion. More than a third of the products are sold through auto parts chains, both by physical location and online. Independent specialty stores are next in volume at 12%, followed by dealerships at 9%.

The report also reveals consistently improved manufacturer sales across virtually every product category, from amplifiers and speakers to truck caps and bed covers. The lone exception in the 15-category field is video/entertainment/navigational systems, which have seen sales decreases in each of the last four years. Again, however, many of those items have become automaker or dealership add-ons, so consumers still want them but are buying them already installed on new vehicles.

Overall, however, each segment has been on an upward trend since 2009. Performance products (now $9.44 billion in sales) and wheels, tires and suspension ($13.10 billion) had maintained growth even through the recession years, but the accessory and appearance segment was severely affected by the recession and didn’t begin to recover until a few years ago. While it was once the dominant category, topping out at well over $20 billion in sales in 2006, it is now producing sales of about $13.61 billion.

“That comes back to the idea of disposable income as a big driver of that segment,” said Knapp. “In terms of our general economy in the early 2000s, everything was going great and everybody was spending big—sometimes credit spending, but spending big. When that discretionary income pulled back, it was largely felt in the accessory grouping. Those are the things that the general populace feels are nice to have rather than necessary, whereas a significant portion of our customer base feels the need to have performance-related products and will always do so even when the economy wavers.”

In fact, according to the report, the street-performance niche of the overall performance category continues as the largest of all SEMA niches, accounting for nearly $10 billion in retail sales. Street performance involves products that are used to modify the performance, appearance and handling of “performance vehicles” for street use, and it fuels much of the overall growth in the market, climbing more than 14% this year. (The category excludes light trucks and passenger cars that are not typically designed for performance.)

The off-road market, while considerably smaller at $1.7 billion in sales this year, reached its highest level in nearly a decade, the report shows. The off-road niche is distinctly separate from the light-truck niche and consists of products specifically designed for off-road use, even if they’re used only on-road. Unlike trucks, the off-road niche was less affected by the recession, with sales remaining steadily upward from 2001 on.

	While search engines are the primary source for information on specialty-equipment parts, many consumers rely on advice from friends and family and also research retail websites. More than a third of accessorizers visit stores/dealerships or parts manufacturer websites.

The report’s shift from manufacturer data to consumer market data opens with a look at a graph based on purchases classified by sales channel. It is striking that auto-parts chains—both online and fixed locations—are still the mainstay where people buy automotive
specialty equipment.

“While our industry tends to think about enthusiasts as our market, our researchers found that the enthusiast group may make up only half of our customers in any year,” Knapp said. “We have to remember that there is a broader market out there, and specialty equipment is a broad market to begin with. Not everything consists of going into a speed shop and getting a part.”

The next chart on consumer purchases by vehicle segment shows that midrange and traditional cars and pickups are the sales leaders, with SUV not too far behind. One of the oncoming classifications is crossover utility vehicles (CUVs), which now account for 10% of purchases by vehicle type.

That graph is followed by detailed information about consumer-reported purchase estimates broken out in the three product categories: accessory and appearance products ($15.72 billion), performance products ($8.95 billion) and wheels, tires and suspension ($10.13 billion). The data from the three main segments is broken into subcategory purchase estimates (for instance, drivetrain, engine, safety, etc. under performance products), and then into purchase and percentage-of-driver estimates for specific products under each subcategory.

The consumer section covers 43 product categories. In addition to the information above, a list of sales channels for each individual category shows where they were purchased and what types of vehicles they were installed on (each by percentage).

“As you go through this section, you see how things differ,” Knapp said. “For instance, the majority of purchases of wax and cleaning products are made at auto-parts chains and retail chains. But if we look at truck caps, we see a shift to independent specialty stores and even car or truck shows. When we look under performance special-purpose tires, the auto-parts chains still maintain the greatest portion of the market, but independent specialty stores are almost equal. When a lot of people go for specific products, they go where they believe the products are best known.”

Which brings up an interesting point, Knapp said.

“In some cases, people order tires on a website and then come into a physical store to have them installed,” he pointed out. “When should that type of sale be tallied as an online purchase rather than a brick-and-mortar purchase? These are some of the things that we will try to shake out over time. Year-over-year examinations of these types of things are going to improve the quality of the data.”

The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado remain the two top-selling vehicles in the United States. The vehicle in the top 30 that experienced the most growth this year was the newly released ’14 Jeep Cherokee.

In addition to the product sales and purchase data, the 2015 SEMA Market Report also includes consumer profile information, such as where retail customers go to research parts purchases, whether parts are installed by the purchaser or by someone else and breakdowns of purchase amounts based on vehicle type as well as more traditional demographic information.

“When you look at where people are doing their research, it’s probably not a big shock that they’re going online,” Knapp said, “but it’s also nice to still see word-of-mouth up there as well. At least people still talk to people. We also know that some people shop in stores and go online to buy, while others do the opposite—go to an online retail website, see more options, learn about things without feeling any pressure, and then go into the store to make the purchase. And when people say that they are looking at parts manufacturer websites, that’s pretty powerful.”

It’s instructive to note that 40% of consumers look at retail websites for information, so retailers can gather plenty of insight from the report. Obviously, people will still come into a brick-and-mortar store off the street to shop, but it is a helpful adjunct to have a website for a store to help drive business.

“Looking at the age data, we also found that young people are actually more likely to be accessorizers than older people,” Knapp said. “In some ways, that goes against the popular media line that young people don’t care about cars. But this is fun stuff, and young people like the personalization aspect, customization and even performance. When we look across different age groups, younger people are more likely to be accessorizers than people over 40. And when you look at the age sales by channels, it’s almost exactly what you would expect: Almost 70% of the people who buy under 40 are buying online, and only 5% of older people buy online.”

The next section of the report covers industry indicators and national economic trends, and the first graph in that section compares gross domestic product (GDP) to specialty-equipment sales and new-vehicle sales. While each category of the graph generally follows the others, it shows auto sales making the biggest drop of the three during the recession and the largest correction in the past few years, which continues to bode well for the automotive aftermarket.

“Another thing that affects our industry a lot is the changes in the new-vehicle mix,” Knapp said. “The types of new vehicles that are popular and selling fluctuate from year to year, so we also included that type of information in the report. Our members need to follow those changes and be able to have products for the different types of vehicles. Specialty equipment can go on any vehicle, of course, anything from the classics to the brand new, but having more vehicles available to the industry is always a good thing.”

Information about the market and how product trends and segment trends fit with that market isn’t just a blur of data. Understanding where consumers go for research and shopping may allow manufacturers and retailers alike to most effectively adjust their product mix as well as their marketing and advertising. The 2015 SEMA Market Report can truly help you target your customers.

SEMA News—October 2015

RESEARCH

By Steve Campbell

2015 SEMA Market Report

New Features Reveal Consumer Buying Habits

The 2015 SEMA Market Report is now available for free download by SEMA members at www.SEMA.org/automotive-aftermarket-research. It uses a combination of historical data, a new consumer survey and other reference tools to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

Each year, SEMA’s research department produces a report that explores the automotive specialty-equipment market. The report examines the size of the market while also looking at different product segments, vehicle niches and sales trends. For more than 20 years, the report has been compiled based on data culled from industry manufacturers, providing an outward view of what their businesses are selling. For the first time, the research team has now added an element based on consumer feedback. The goal of the 2015 SEMA Market Report (available free to association members at www.sema.org/automotive-aftermarket-research) is to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

“The starting point for our market numbers is the parts that get sold through distributors and the amount of revenue made from them,” said Gavin Knapp, director of SEMA market research. “We show not just the types of parts or the niches they get sold into but also where these parts were sold within the market based on input from manufacturers.”

What had been missing, the research team found—particularly as the Internet changed the marketplace—was a clear picture of what was going on in the retail side: what customers were buying, how they were purchasing products and where they were shopping.

“Developing this new data set from the consumer standpoint allows us to get more specific and more granular about product groupings,” Knapp explained. “Instead of just being able to say that the whole market’s products are sold in specific types of places, we can now tell you which specific product categories are sold at which retail venues and in what proportions. That is the key to the new data.”

The new information comes from a survey of 20,000 consumers who are representative of the United States population. They were asked what kinds of cars they own and what parts and accessories they upgraded, modified or replaced, and the research also drills down to where they purchased the products.

	The report shows that each product segment improved in 2014, with handling products displaying a particularly strong increase of almost 12%.

“Keep in mind that both sides are estimates based on samples,” Knapp said. “Nowhere in our industry does every transaction get reported and aggregated. On each side, we have to take a sampling of information and then extrapolate that information to the whole population. The manufacturing data encompasses pretty much all of the specialty-equipment parts sales, including those for passenger cars and light trucks as well as some parts that go to things such as powersports and marine applications. Obviously, we’re not going after motorcycle parts directly, but these would be crossover parts that may play into those areas. We focused our new consumer data specifically on passenger vehicles alone—cars and trucks. So you have the manufacturers reporting their gross sales on the one side and consumers reporting how much they’ve spent on the other side.”

That crossover probably accounts for the discrepancy between sales reported by manufacturers and purchases reported by consumers. The historical industry sales figure charted in the report’s overview is $36.15 billion, while consumer market purchases come to $34.58 billion. (Readers should also understand that the numbers are based on the 2014 calendar year, so the 2015 report indicates market conditions at the beginning of 2015.)

Looking at the historical data first, the marketplace is trending upward nicely after the recession, with 8.2% overall growth from 2013 to 2014. Economic stability and the rising number of new-vehicle sales for the past several years has put the industry back on a growth trend, the report states, marking the fifth year of increased sales for the specialty-equipment market. And while manufacturers reported that all segments are improving, the wheel, tire and suspension segment made notable gains of 11.7% over the previous year.

“Some of that is driven by the return of disposable income as the economy strengthens,” Knapp said. “It also makes sense that truck owners are now spending more on those items that particularly affect their vehicles. If you look at our vehicle niches, you’ll see that street performance has maintained the greatest growth, but growth in the truck segment was also significant. Truck is also one of those categories where some traditional accessories have been co-opted by the automakers, so now pickups roll off the showroom floors already equipped with items such as sidesteps and bedliners, and the newly disposable income has shifted to other things such as wheels, tires and suspension.”

According to retail information collected from consumers, the automotive specialty-equipment industry is presently valued at $34.6 billion. More than a third of the products are sold through auto parts chains, both by physical location and online. Independent specialty stores are next in volume at 12%, followed by dealerships at 9%.

The report also reveals consistently improved manufacturer sales across virtually every product category, from amplifiers and speakers to truck caps and bed covers. The lone exception in the 15-category field is video/entertainment/navigational systems, which have seen sales decreases in each of the last four years. Again, however, many of those items have become automaker or dealership add-ons, so consumers still want them but are buying them already installed on new vehicles.

Overall, however, each segment has been on an upward trend since 2009. Performance products (now $9.44 billion in sales) and wheels, tires and suspension ($13.10 billion) had maintained growth even through the recession years, but the accessory and appearance segment was severely affected by the recession and didn’t begin to recover until a few years ago. While it was once the dominant category, topping out at well over $20 billion in sales in 2006, it is now producing sales of about $13.61 billion.

“That comes back to the idea of disposable income as a big driver of that segment,” said Knapp. “In terms of our general economy in the early 2000s, everything was going great and everybody was spending big—sometimes credit spending, but spending big. When that discretionary income pulled back, it was largely felt in the accessory grouping. Those are the things that the general populace feels are nice to have rather than necessary, whereas a significant portion of our customer base feels the need to have performance-related products and will always do so even when the economy wavers.”

In fact, according to the report, the street-performance niche of the overall performance category continues as the largest of all SEMA niches, accounting for nearly $10 billion in retail sales. Street performance involves products that are used to modify the performance, appearance and handling of “performance vehicles” for street use, and it fuels much of the overall growth in the market, climbing more than 14% this year. (The category excludes light trucks and passenger cars that are not typically designed for performance.)

The off-road market, while considerably smaller at $1.7 billion in sales this year, reached its highest level in nearly a decade, the report shows. The off-road niche is distinctly separate from the light-truck niche and consists of products specifically designed for off-road use, even if they’re used only on-road. Unlike trucks, the off-road niche was less affected by the recession, with sales remaining steadily upward from 2001 on.

	While search engines are the primary source for information on specialty-equipment parts, many consumers rely on advice from friends and family and also research retail websites. More than a third of accessorizers visit stores/dealerships or parts manufacturer websites.

The report’s shift from manufacturer data to consumer market data opens with a look at a graph based on purchases classified by sales channel. It is striking that auto-parts chains—both online and fixed locations—are still the mainstay where people buy automotive
specialty equipment.

“While our industry tends to think about enthusiasts as our market, our researchers found that the enthusiast group may make up only half of our customers in any year,” Knapp said. “We have to remember that there is a broader market out there, and specialty equipment is a broad market to begin with. Not everything consists of going into a speed shop and getting a part.”

The next chart on consumer purchases by vehicle segment shows that midrange and traditional cars and pickups are the sales leaders, with SUV not too far behind. One of the oncoming classifications is crossover utility vehicles (CUVs), which now account for 10% of purchases by vehicle type.

That graph is followed by detailed information about consumer-reported purchase estimates broken out in the three product categories: accessory and appearance products ($15.72 billion), performance products ($8.95 billion) and wheels, tires and suspension ($10.13 billion). The data from the three main segments is broken into subcategory purchase estimates (for instance, drivetrain, engine, safety, etc. under performance products), and then into purchase and percentage-of-driver estimates for specific products under each subcategory.

The consumer section covers 43 product categories. In addition to the information above, a list of sales channels for each individual category shows where they were purchased and what types of vehicles they were installed on (each by percentage).

“As you go through this section, you see how things differ,” Knapp said. “For instance, the majority of purchases of wax and cleaning products are made at auto-parts chains and retail chains. But if we look at truck caps, we see a shift to independent specialty stores and even car or truck shows. When we look under performance special-purpose tires, the auto-parts chains still maintain the greatest portion of the market, but independent specialty stores are almost equal. When a lot of people go for specific products, they go where they believe the products are best known.”

Which brings up an interesting point, Knapp said.

“In some cases, people order tires on a website and then come into a physical store to have them installed,” he pointed out. “When should that type of sale be tallied as an online purchase rather than a brick-and-mortar purchase? These are some of the things that we will try to shake out over time. Year-over-year examinations of these types of things are going to improve the quality of the data.”

The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado remain the two top-selling vehicles in the United States. The vehicle in the top 30 that experienced the most growth this year was the newly released ’14 Jeep Cherokee.

In addition to the product sales and purchase data, the 2015 SEMA Market Report also includes consumer profile information, such as where retail customers go to research parts purchases, whether parts are installed by the purchaser or by someone else and breakdowns of purchase amounts based on vehicle type as well as more traditional demographic information.

“When you look at where people are doing their research, it’s probably not a big shock that they’re going online,” Knapp said, “but it’s also nice to still see word-of-mouth up there as well. At least people still talk to people. We also know that some people shop in stores and go online to buy, while others do the opposite—go to an online retail website, see more options, learn about things without feeling any pressure, and then go into the store to make the purchase. And when people say that they are looking at parts manufacturer websites, that’s pretty powerful.”

It’s instructive to note that 40% of consumers look at retail websites for information, so retailers can gather plenty of insight from the report. Obviously, people will still come into a brick-and-mortar store off the street to shop, but it is a helpful adjunct to have a website for a store to help drive business.

“Looking at the age data, we also found that young people are actually more likely to be accessorizers than older people,” Knapp said. “In some ways, that goes against the popular media line that young people don’t care about cars. But this is fun stuff, and young people like the personalization aspect, customization and even performance. When we look across different age groups, younger people are more likely to be accessorizers than people over 40. And when you look at the age sales by channels, it’s almost exactly what you would expect: Almost 70% of the people who buy under 40 are buying online, and only 5% of older people buy online.”

The next section of the report covers industry indicators and national economic trends, and the first graph in that section compares gross domestic product (GDP) to specialty-equipment sales and new-vehicle sales. While each category of the graph generally follows the others, it shows auto sales making the biggest drop of the three during the recession and the largest correction in the past few years, which continues to bode well for the automotive aftermarket.

“Another thing that affects our industry a lot is the changes in the new-vehicle mix,” Knapp said. “The types of new vehicles that are popular and selling fluctuate from year to year, so we also included that type of information in the report. Our members need to follow those changes and be able to have products for the different types of vehicles. Specialty equipment can go on any vehicle, of course, anything from the classics to the brand new, but having more vehicles available to the industry is always a good thing.”

Information about the market and how product trends and segment trends fit with that market isn’t just a blur of data. Understanding where consumers go for research and shopping may allow manufacturers and retailers alike to most effectively adjust their product mix as well as their marketing and advertising. The 2015 SEMA Market Report can truly help you target your customers.

SEMA News—October 2015

RESEARCH

By Steve Campbell

2015 SEMA Market Report

New Features Reveal Consumer Buying Habits

The 2015 SEMA Market Report is now available for free download by SEMA members at www.SEMA.org/automotive-aftermarket-research. It uses a combination of historical data, a new consumer survey and other reference tools to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

Each year, SEMA’s research department produces a report that explores the automotive specialty-equipment market. The report examines the size of the market while also looking at different product segments, vehicle niches and sales trends. For more than 20 years, the report has been compiled based on data culled from industry manufacturers, providing an outward view of what their businesses are selling. For the first time, the research team has now added an element based on consumer feedback. The goal of the 2015 SEMA Market Report (available free to association members at www.sema.org/automotive-aftermarket-research) is to provide member companies with comprehensive information they can use to help their businesses.

“The starting point for our market numbers is the parts that get sold through distributors and the amount of revenue made from them,” said Gavin Knapp, director of SEMA market research. “We show not just the types of parts or the niches they get sold into but also where these parts were sold within the market based on input from manufacturers.”

What had been missing, the research team found—particularly as the Internet changed the marketplace—was a clear picture of what was going on in the retail side: what customers were buying, how they were purchasing products and where they were shopping.

“Developing this new data set from the consumer standpoint allows us to get more specific and more granular about product groupings,” Knapp explained. “Instead of just being able to say that the whole market’s products are sold in specific types of places, we can now tell you which specific product categories are sold at which retail venues and in what proportions. That is the key to the new data.”

The new information comes from a survey of 20,000 consumers who are representative of the United States population. They were asked what kinds of cars they own and what parts and accessories they upgraded, modified or replaced, and the research also drills down to where they purchased the products.

	The report shows that each product segment improved in 2014, with handling products displaying a particularly strong increase of almost 12%.

“Keep in mind that both sides are estimates based on samples,” Knapp said. “Nowhere in our industry does every transaction get reported and aggregated. On each side, we have to take a sampling of information and then extrapolate that information to the whole population. The manufacturing data encompasses pretty much all of the specialty-equipment parts sales, including those for passenger cars and light trucks as well as some parts that go to things such as powersports and marine applications. Obviously, we’re not going after motorcycle parts directly, but these would be crossover parts that may play into those areas. We focused our new consumer data specifically on passenger vehicles alone—cars and trucks. So you have the manufacturers reporting their gross sales on the one side and consumers reporting how much they’ve spent on the other side.”

That crossover probably accounts for the discrepancy between sales reported by manufacturers and purchases reported by consumers. The historical industry sales figure charted in the report’s overview is $36.15 billion, while consumer market purchases come to $34.58 billion. (Readers should also understand that the numbers are based on the 2014 calendar year, so the 2015 report indicates market conditions at the beginning of 2015.)

Looking at the historical data first, the marketplace is trending upward nicely after the recession, with 8.2% overall growth from 2013 to 2014. Economic stability and the rising number of new-vehicle sales for the past several years has put the industry back on a growth trend, the report states, marking the fifth year of increased sales for the specialty-equipment market. And while manufacturers reported that all segments are improving, the wheel, tire and suspension segment made notable gains of 11.7% over the previous year.

“Some of that is driven by the return of disposable income as the economy strengthens,” Knapp said. “It also makes sense that truck owners are now spending more on those items that particularly affect their vehicles. If you look at our vehicle niches, you’ll see that street performance has maintained the greatest growth, but growth in the truck segment was also significant. Truck is also one of those categories where some traditional accessories have been co-opted by the automakers, so now pickups roll off the showroom floors already equipped with items such as sidesteps and bedliners, and the newly disposable income has shifted to other things such as wheels, tires and suspension.”

According to retail information collected from consumers, the automotive specialty-equipment industry is presently valued at $34.6 billion. More than a third of the products are sold through auto parts chains, both by physical location and online. Independent specialty stores are next in volume at 12%, followed by dealerships at 9%.

The report also reveals consistently improved manufacturer sales across virtually every product category, from amplifiers and speakers to truck caps and bed covers. The lone exception in the 15-category field is video/entertainment/navigational systems, which have seen sales decreases in each of the last four years. Again, however, many of those items have become automaker or dealership add-ons, so consumers still want them but are buying them already installed on new vehicles.

Overall, however, each segment has been on an upward trend since 2009. Performance products (now $9.44 billion in sales) and wheels, tires and suspension ($13.10 billion) had maintained growth even through the recession years, but the accessory and appearance segment was severely affected by the recession and didn’t begin to recover until a few years ago. While it was once the dominant category, topping out at well over $20 billion in sales in 2006, it is now producing sales of about $13.61 billion.

“That comes back to the idea of disposable income as a big driver of that segment,” said Knapp. “In terms of our general economy in the early 2000s, everything was going great and everybody was spending big—sometimes credit spending, but spending big. When that discretionary income pulled back, it was largely felt in the accessory grouping. Those are the things that the general populace feels are nice to have rather than necessary, whereas a significant portion of our customer base feels the need to have performance-related products and will always do so even when the economy wavers.”

In fact, according to the report, the street-performance niche of the overall performance category continues as the largest of all SEMA niches, accounting for nearly $10 billion in retail sales. Street performance involves products that are used to modify the performance, appearance and handling of “performance vehicles” for street use, and it fuels much of the overall growth in the market, climbing more than 14% this year. (The category excludes light trucks and passenger cars that are not typically designed for performance.)

The off-road market, while considerably smaller at $1.7 billion in sales this year, reached its highest level in nearly a decade, the report shows. The off-road niche is distinctly separate from the light-truck niche and consists of products specifically designed for off-road use, even if they’re used only on-road. Unlike trucks, the off-road niche was less affected by the recession, with sales remaining steadily upward from 2001 on.

	While search engines are the primary source for information on specialty-equipment parts, many consumers rely on advice from friends and family and also research retail websites. More than a third of accessorizers visit stores/dealerships or parts manufacturer websites.

The report’s shift from manufacturer data to consumer market data opens with a look at a graph based on purchases classified by sales channel. It is striking that auto-parts chains—both online and fixed locations—are still the mainstay where people buy automotive
specialty equipment.

“While our industry tends to think about enthusiasts as our market, our researchers found that the enthusiast group may make up only half of our customers in any year,” Knapp said. “We have to remember that there is a broader market out there, and specialty equipment is a broad market to begin with. Not everything consists of going into a speed shop and getting a part.”

The next chart on consumer purchases by vehicle segment shows that midrange and traditional cars and pickups are the sales leaders, with SUV not too far behind. One of the oncoming classifications is crossover utility vehicles (CUVs), which now account for 10% of purchases by vehicle type.

That graph is followed by detailed information about consumer-reported purchase estimates broken out in the three product categories: accessory and appearance products ($15.72 billion), performance products ($8.95 billion) and wheels, tires and suspension ($10.13 billion). The data from the three main segments is broken into subcategory purchase estimates (for instance, drivetrain, engine, safety, etc. under performance products), and then into purchase and percentage-of-driver estimates for specific products under each subcategory.

The consumer section covers 43 product categories. In addition to the information above, a list of sales channels for each individual category shows where they were purchased and what types of vehicles they were installed on (each by percentage).

“As you go through this section, you see how things differ,” Knapp said. “For instance, the majority of purchases of wax and cleaning products are made at auto-parts chains and retail chains. But if we look at truck caps, we see a shift to independent specialty stores and even car or truck shows. When we look under performance special-purpose tires, the auto-parts chains still maintain the greatest portion of the market, but independent specialty stores are almost equal. When a lot of people go for specific products, they go where they believe the products are best known.”

Which brings up an interesting point, Knapp said.

“In some cases, people order tires on a website and then come into a physical store to have them installed,” he pointed out. “When should that type of sale be tallied as an online purchase rather than a brick-and-mortar purchase? These are some of the things that we will try to shake out over time. Year-over-year examinations of these types of things are going to improve the quality of the data.”

The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado remain the two top-selling vehicles in the United States. The vehicle in the top 30 that experienced the most growth this year was the newly released ’14 Jeep Cherokee.

In addition to the product sales and purchase data, the 2015 SEMA Market Report also includes consumer profile information, such as where retail customers go to research parts purchases, whether parts are installed by the purchaser or by someone else and breakdowns of purchase amounts based on vehicle type as well as more traditional demographic information.

“When you look at where people are doing their research, it’s probably not a big shock that they’re going online,” Knapp said, “but it’s also nice to still see word-of-mouth up there as well. At least people still talk to people. We also know that some people shop in stores and go online to buy, while others do the opposite—go to an online retail website, see more options, learn about things without feeling any pressure, and then go into the store to make the purchase. And when people say that they are looking at parts manufacturer websites, that’s pretty powerful.”

It’s instructive to note that 40% of consumers look at retail websites for information, so retailers can gather plenty of insight from the report. Obviously, people will still come into a brick-and-mortar store off the street to shop, but it is a helpful adjunct to have a website for a store to help drive business.

“Looking at the age data, we also found that young people are actually more likely to be accessorizers than older people,” Knapp said. “In some ways, that goes against the popular media line that young people don’t care about cars. But this is fun stuff, and young people like the personalization aspect, customization and even performance. When we look across different age groups, younger people are more likely to be accessorizers than people over 40. And when you look at the age sales by channels, it’s almost exactly what you would expect: Almost 70% of the people who buy under 40 are buying online, and only 5% of older people buy online.”

The next section of the report covers industry indicators and national economic trends, and the first graph in that section compares gross domestic product (GDP) to specialty-equipment sales and new-vehicle sales. While each category of the graph generally follows the others, it shows auto sales making the biggest drop of the three during the recession and the largest correction in the past few years, which continues to bode well for the automotive aftermarket.

“Another thing that affects our industry a lot is the changes in the new-vehicle mix,” Knapp said. “The types of new vehicles that are popular and selling fluctuate from year to year, so we also included that type of information in the report. Our members need to follow those changes and be able to have products for the different types of vehicles. Specialty equipment can go on any vehicle, of course, anything from the classics to the brand new, but having more vehicles available to the industry is always a good thing.”

Information about the market and how product trends and segment trends fit with that market isn’t just a blur of data. Understanding where consumers go for research and shopping may allow manufacturers and retailers alike to most effectively adjust their product mix as well as their marketing and advertising. The 2015 SEMA Market Report can truly help you target your customers.