Babcox named Scott Shriber as publisher of BodyShop Business, a Babcox publication that serves the collision-repair industry. Shriber, previously was with the Ford Motor Co. for 28 years in a number of positions and, most recently, was the national sales manager for OEConnection. He will officially take over as publisher on Monday, July 25. 

Robert Grusky and William Crowley were elected to the AutoZone board of directors. The move is the result of an agreement with ESL Investments, AutoZone’s largest shareholder, through which the company agreed to add three new members to its board of directors. The company expects to add a third board member by December 2008. Grusky is the founder of the investment firm Hope Capital Management LLC and co-founder of New Mountain Capital LLC, a private equity firm. Crowley has served as a director and executive vice president of Sears Holdings Corp. since March 2005.

Jack Roush has partnered with Valvoline to create Roush Motor Oil, a line of six new motor oils for early- and late-model performance engines. Roush Fenway Racing currently uses Valvoline in its stock cars. For more information, visit www.roushoil.com.

Pirelli announced that the Silvio Tronchetti Provera Foundation and the University of Shandong in Jinan (China) signed a research agreement for the study of new ecologically friendly tires. The university researchers will work in cooperation with the scientists in Pirelli’s R&D department to produce low-rolling-resistance tires. Pirelli’s goal is to create more eco-compatible tires, such as its new “green” (Cinturato) tire it released in Europe earlier this year.   

Hagerty Insurance recently launched Car Club Central, an online resource tool for car clubs and their members. The resource showcases the benefits and features that Hagerty offers to car clubs nationwide and makes those benefits more easily available. More information is available at www.hagerty.com/carclubcentral.

Two Bridgestone commercials, “Scream” and “Lucky Dog,” were chosen as finalists at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, which recognizes advertising creativity around the world. As finalists, the commercials were placed among the top 10% of more than 4,600 entries from 85 countries. “One of the driving forces of our Bridgestone brand team, including our teammates in advertising and marketing, is a shared passion for excellence, and these ads hit that standard,” stated Phil Pacsi, vice president of consumer marketing Bridgestone Firestone North America. “To receive this level of recognition at such a prestigious festival is remarkable.”   

Click on the logo to visit SBN's website.

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Click on the logo to visit ARMO's website.

ARMO Special Projects in Motion

Sponsorships are being accepted for the ARMO Industry Awards Reception. Now is the time to participate in this great opportunity to show your support of the restoration market, its community, its people and its businesses. Click here to download and print a sponsorship form.
 
For more information, contact any Select Committee member or Jan Desma, 909/396-0289, ext. 134, or e-mail jand@sema.org.

ARMO Column in SEMA Member News

Click on the logo to visit TORA's website.

The TORA, in conjunction with the SEMA education and marketing departments, has created a CD compilation of SEMA webinars. Having access to webinars online is a great SEMA-member benefit, but listening to one still requires sitting down at the computer and downloading.

With this CD, TORA members can listen to 11 TORA-relevant seminars without the need for Internet access. You can listen in the car or on a plane. If you are savvy enough to convert and load the files onto your iPod, you can even listen to them while tearing up the treadmill!

The 11 seminars included on the CD are:

1. Making sure your web store is open for business
2. Secrets to marketing a highly effective website
3. How reps can help installers sell to car dealers
4. Your customer doesn’t live here any more
5. How manufacturers can communicate more effectively with distributors and customers
6. The mindset of leadership—timeless qualities of a successful leader
7. Lean Manufacturing—how to eliminate waste in manufacturing and distribution
8. Management strategies for the most challenging situations
9. Six Sigma—the secret weapon of success
10. Financial management for the non-financial manager
11. Get Paid: Avoiding slow/non-paying customers and collecting debt.

For a copy of the "TORA Education & Training Benefits Webinar CD," TORA members can contact Staci Bostock at stacib@sema.org. The 11 seminars featured on the CD are but a small sampling of what’s available from the SEMA website. On the SEMA homepage, click on “Shows and Events” then “webinars.” You can search the webinars by author or topic.

TORA Column in SEMA Member News

Read TORA's column featured in the July/August issue of SEMA Member News by clicking here.

Filler for eNews

The SEMA Store is running a series of promotions through the end of August on merchandise from the 2007 SEMA Show.

The current promotion: From August 20–26, the SEMA Store is offering 30% off all SEMA sweatshirts, plus free shipping on orders of $50 or more. The grey hooded sweatshirt is screen printed on the front only.

Dates and locations for several upcoming SEMA-sponsored shows and activities have been announced. Details are:

>> SEMA Webinar, "25 Common Mistakes Made by SEMA Show Exhibitors," August 28, 2008 10:00 a.m. (PDT)
>> SEMA Show 2008, November 4–7, 2008, Las Vegas 
>> SEMA Dealer Day, November 5, 2008, Las Vegas

For association-related travel, contact Manya Petropaki (manya.p@travelstoreusa.com) at Travel Store USA, 949/930-9268.

Looking for Some Extra Publicity for Your Industry Event?
Publicize your events through the SEMA Online Calendar of Events located at www.sema.org/calendar. The calendar is stocked with information on events taking place throughout the year, broken down by month. Examples of events featured in the calendar include consumer shows and club events, educational and training workshops, conventions and trade shows, races and more.

To submit your event details for the calendar, e-mail company name and the date(s), location and name of the event to Shirley Presecan at shirleyp@sema.org.

Despite high gas prices that have diminished sales of trucks and SUVs and altered consumer driving habits, it's unlikely that truck and SUV owners will sell their vehicles, says the The New York Times.

The reason behind this is the simple law of supply and demand. With the demand for trucks and SUVs at dismal levels compared to last year, the value of the vehicles has also fallen to new lows. SEMA market research shows that sales of new SUVs have dropped by 46%. The New York Times states that the value of the vehicles, as demonstrated by their trade-in values, has dropped by a third of their value from last year.

What this means for consumers is that they are unlikely to trade in or sell their gas guzzlers for new vehicles. The money saved in gas by spending less money at the pumps by trading in a used SUV for a more fuel-efficient small car is offset by the costs of buying the new car. In other words, consumers are learning that the potential money saved in gas by trading in their SUVs is lost when considering the costs of buying a new car.  

Individuals are opting to either make do with their old vehicles or wait until the values of their vehicles possibly recover. 

What this means for SEMA members is that while market entry—new purchases of trucks and SUVs—has been down, market exit is quite low. Few individuals are willing to sell their vehicles at such low values. Manufacturers of specialty equipment for these vehicles will still benefit by them being on the road.

For more SEMA market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

With the economy still suffering and gas prices only slightly recovering, auto sales continue to slump in the recent market. But a study by R.L. Polk & Company, as reported by Automotive News, suggests that sales to "ethnic" consumers have been consistently strong, and growth in their population contains much potential for growth in the auto industry.

Recent trends identified in the U.S. census show growing levels of income for many ethnic groups, which translates into more disposable income ripe for the auto industry. Though overall new vehicle registrations were down 3.3% in 2007, Hispanic, Asian and African-American consumers maintained 22% of the market.

"Multicultural markets have been showing growth over the past few years in an automotive market that has been in decline," said Mark Pauze, senior solutions consultant at R. L. Polk & Co.

Many indicators point to this market growing, especially that of ethnic population growth. According to the U.S. census data from 2007, Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans are expected to make up over 33% of the American population by 2010, and by 37% by 2020. The Polk study suggests that marketing towards these groups could benefit leading auto manufacturers.

SEMA research suggests that marketing specialty equipment towards this demographic could be beneficial as well. According to SEMA’s Automotive Lifestyle Study, enthusiasts that classified themselves as ethnic minorities spent around 10% more on specialty equipment in 2007 compared to those that classified themselves as “white.”

Although the number of Hispanic, Asian and African-American enthusiasts that took the survey was small—only 18% of the survey respondents classified themselves as one of the ethnic minority groups—this market is likely to grow in the future, yielding potential profits.

For more SEMA market research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

Source:
-"Study: Ethnic Market Offers Opportunity," Mary Connelly, Automotive News, 8/11/08

Sales of Ford's F-Series Light Duty edged out the Chevy Silverado in July.  

Pickup sales have dropped 26% compared to the same period last year, according to SEMA research. The specialty-equipment industry has long revered the pickup vehicle segment as an opportunity for profits due to its past growth, but hikes in gasoline prices this year have taken a toll on recent sales. The table below shows the top 20-selling pickups in July of 2008, in addition to how they sold last year.



Around 57% of enthusiasts that own pickups said that they purchased their vehicle used, according to SEMA's Automotive Lifestyle Study of automotive enthusiast magazine subscribers, administered late last year. This means that as more used trucks enter the market from consumers switching to other vehicle types, there is potential for SEMA members to market toward consumers purchasing these used pickups at depreciated market values with extra money in their pockets for custom parts and accessories.

Looking at those enthusiasts that currently own pickups, according to the Automotive Lifestyle Study, some of the top activities reflect a need for a pickup. Fifty-percent said they go camping or hiking; 49% hunting, fishing or shooting; 47% off-roading; and 32% boating or sailing. In addition, the top profession noted by these enthusiasts was “skilled trade,” a line of work that often requires a pickup.

R.L. Polk registration data shows that 12% of all vehicles registered in the United States are fullsize pickups. A survey sent to SEMA members earlier this year showed that 70% either manufactured or sold specialty products for large pickups. These sales shifts have the potential to impact SEMA members in a major way. However, the market for used pickups may still hold strong.

So while new pickup sales are down this year, specialty-equipment companies could still benefit by focusing on current pickup owners.

For more original SEMA research, please visit www.sema.org/research.

GM released these two new production photos of the 2010 Chevy Volt.

There are more than 38,000 prospective buyers on a waiting list for the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, the new electric car that GM plans to release in November 2010.

The unofficial, ongoing waiting list—compiled by Lyle Dennis, a New York neurologist and Volt champion who runs GM-Volt.com, a website dedicated to the vehicle—so far lists 38,725 people interested in purchasing the rechargeable car.

Data from the site shows that nearly 2,000 of the prospective buyers come from California, followed by Texas with approximately 1,000 buyers. Florida, Michigan and New York also show a healthy number of interested buyers.

According to GM-Volt.com, the vehicle is designed around a lithium-ion battery pack that will enable the car to drive for 40 miles. The Volt will also feature an on-board engine that will charge the battery and provide an overall driving range of 400 miles. This amounts to approximately 50 mpg for each gallon used to charge the battery. The battery pack will be able to recharge into a standard 110- or 220-volt wall outlet.

"The Volt is part of a new and upcoming technology impacting conventional drivetrains that will challenge some of our SEMA members," said Bill Wolf, SEMA senior director of OEM relations. "This will definitely move our members to explore options to conventional automotive powerplants and potential opportunities to capitalize on this advancing technology."

In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, GM CEO Rick Wagoner says his best guess for the Volt’s selling price is in the mid- to high-30K range.

For more information on SEMA's OEM-related programs and resources, click here.