The SEMA National Education Conference, scheduled April 10–11 in Nashville, is a concentrated, two-day leadership program developed exclusively for automotive specialty-equipment executives. With the knowledge shared at this conference, you'll discover how to lead your company to new levels of success. You'll receive real-world skills for immediate application, targeted information presented specifically for the automotive specialty-equipment industry and inspiration to make the necessary changes to more easily and effectively meet the challenges of a rapidly changing future.

Alan Beaulieu will discuss specific management objectives and decisions that embrace profits based on thorough, accurate economic forecasts. In a group discussion format, interest rates, demographics and the changing political landscape will be discussed; additional time for discourse will be devoted to China, India and Europe in terms of growth potential and partnerships with the United States.

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

>> SEMA Webinar: Increase Parts Sales Using the Internet the Smart Way, February 14, 10:00 a.m. (PST)
>> SEMA Webinar: PIES: What You Need to Know, February 15, 10:00 a.m. (PST)
>> SEMA Webinar: Analyzing the Income Statement: The Nuts and Bolts, March 6, 10:00 a.m. (PST)
>> SEMA National Education Conference, April 10–11, 2008 Nashville
>> SEMA Washington Rally, May 14–15, 2008, Washington, D.C.
>> PAACE Automechanika Mexico, July, 9–11, 2008, Mexico City
>> 2008 Aftermarket eForum, July 14–16, 2008, Hyatt Regency O'Hare, Chicago
>> SEMA Show 2008, November 4–7, 2008, Las Vegas  

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

Scion, the hip, affordable youth-focused Toyota offshoot that has made accessorization a large part of its success, offers customers a faster way to the car of their dreams.

Putting a twist on the built-to-order car, the automaker can now deliver a special order in days (or a few weeks for those in the Heartland), rather than months were it assembled in Japan, according to Automotive News.

The automaker maintains small installation centers at major ports in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Oregon, the Gulf Coast and Southeast where technicians install a customer’s desired parts and accessories, everything from spoilers and cold-air intakes to wheels and lowering springs. 

Customers personalize their Scion online, which is delivered to a local dealer after it's customized at the port.

Increasing numbers of new-car dealers integrate high-margin specialty-equipment parts and accessories into their showrooms, offering consumers unprecedented customization options. SEMA research shows that 10% of all specialty-equipment sales occur at dealerships.

Automakers have also realized the profit potential of accessorizing new models with wheels, body kits and side steps. Scion is widely credited with refining to a near art the practice of offering consumers specialty-equipment choices.

For now, Scion’s "parts at the port" program is limited to Toyota Racing Development and Scion-branded parts and accessories, according to Scion spokeswoman Allison Takahashi, with a few notable exceptions including taillights branded by TYC.

Specialty-equipment companies that make parts for Scion models can, however, join the automaker’s accessories plan through the Optimize program, a dealer-channeled sales program. For more information on how to get involved with Scion's accessories program, contact Korey Tsuno at Korey_Tsuno@Toyota.com.

Source: "Online Assembly Line Allows Built-to-Order Scions, Delivered Fast," Mark Rechtin, Automotive News, 2/4/08

The restyling market, generally separated into accessories and appearance, performance, and wheel/tire/suspension products, posted retail sales of $4.1 billion in 2006, making it an 11% slice of the specialty-equipment market, according to SEMA research.

The retail sales number represents a 7.3% increase from 2005, and a $1 billion jump from five years prior. Accessories and appearance products claimed the largest share of the market, accounting for 66.4 percent. Wheel/tire/suspension products followed at 18%, then performance products at 15.6 percent.

SEMA research classifies restyling products as all products used to modify the exterior and/or interior of vehicles, covering a wide range of automotive specialty-equipment products, from sunroofs to ground effects and from grille guards to drop-center bumpers.

"Each year we see more new restyling products unveiled by our members at the SEMA Show as a result of growing demand by mainstream consumers to improve the appearance and functionality of their vehicles," says SEMA research analyst Ty Michael. "In fact, the number of restyling products submitted into our New Products showcase grew by nearly 20% last year.

"Consumers that we survey continuously tell us that one of the top three reasons they buy restyling products is to simply make their vehicles different from others on the road."

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

More than 200 mobile electronics companies exhibited at the 2007 SEMA Show, 32 percent of them first-time exhibitors looking to tap into the hottest segments of the mobile electronics market. Stand-alone GPS navigation units, for example, continued on their hot streak, accounting for 9.6 percent of mobile electronics entries in the SEMA Show New Product Showcase, up from 9 percent in 2006.

Hands-free cell phone accessories followed at 8.8 percent. Perhaps a reflection of increased awareness and legal necessity while driving, the hands-free accessories category, which includes popular items such a Bluetooth units that double as portable music players, is up 5 percent from 2006.

In-dash multimedia units, those that combine AM/FM tuners, CD and/or DVD players, provisions for portable music players like the iPod and satellite radio, and navigation, accounted for 6.6 percent of all new products, up from just 3 percent in 2006. 

Slightly behind in-dash multimedia head units, backup camera products comprised 6 percent of new product entries, down slightly from 8.2 percent in 2006.

The standard AM/FM/CD stereo receiver, once the bread and butter of the mobile electronics category showed some resilience, accounting for 3.7 of new products, jumping up from its 1.5 percent representation in 2006.

A final honorable mention goes to satellite radio products. Although only accounting for 2.9 percent of new products in 2007, its representation is more fully accounted for in receivers and in-dash multimedia units, most of which come equipped to receive XM or Sirius satellite radio signals.

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

The German government has updated its guidelines regarding aerodynamic parts. For the first time, German testing agencies are expected to approve products affixed to the outside of a vehicle only if they comply with the EC pedestrian protection requirements. This is a significant expansion of the EC pedestrian protection laws passed in 2003 which cover only the original car and therefore are requirements solely of vehicle manufacturers. These guidelines, while they don’t have the force of law, will likely be treated as such by the testing agencies and extend way beyond the intent of the European Union. 

Known as VdTÜV Specification Data Sheet MB FZMO 744 Testing of External Vehicle Parts on Class M1 and N1 Motor Vehicles Revision 03.2005, the guideline notes that spoilers, bumpers, hoods, and tailgates, as well as air deflectors attached thereto, and front and rear skirts and similar parts would be required to provide proof of compliance with Directive 2003/102/EC as part of their type approval.

German specialty-equipment associations are seeking to have this partially or fully repealed. Specialty-equipment companies have estimated that the cost for testing a single part for a single vehicle model can cost more than 11,000 euro ($15,968 USD).

For more information contact Linda Spencer at lindas@sema.org.

German regulators have sent notices to the various government-approved testing services reminding them that all aftermarket wheels sold throughout Germany must strictly adhere to the German national directive for light-alloy wheels. The government is seeking to crack down on certain technical services which have provided wheel manufacturers or importers, or their customers, with the official stamp of approval based on these products meeting other internationally recognized standards, such as those issued by SAE. The government has announced that testing officials and companies that do not strictly comply with the wheel regulations will be held liable in case of an accident.

For more information, contact Linda Spencer at lindas@sema.org.

Phillipe Jean, the new head of the Automotive Industry Unit of the European Commission based in Brussels, Belgium, recently met with SEMA and the European-wide association of seven national associations (ETO) to provide assurances that the Commission has no immediate intent to create new regulations regarding the specialty-equipment industry.

Jean noted that Article 31 legislation, which was passed by the European Parliament last spring following the inclusion of SEMA- and ETO-sponsored amendments, provides the Commission with the power to regulate only those products which can pose environmental or safety concerns.

At this time, he said no such concerns have been raised and thus no action is currently planned by the European Executive branch.

For more information, contact Linda Spencer at lindas@sema.org.