Paint has long been a necessary product in the automotive world. Perhaps the most prolific painters in the automotive sector, other than OEMs, would be shops operating in the repair and refinish segment. These are auto-body shops that make a living on being able to paint fast, match colors perfectly and be economical in the process.

While the Internet’s white hats have done a great job of keeping the medium’s darker forces at bay, security experts predict that the web will still remain a dangerous place for businesses in the coming year—especially those without digital smarts.

“Is there an app for my business?” With the explosion of smartphones and mobile devices, this may be a question you’re asking yourself. After all, apps are fast becoming one of the latest marketing trends, offering significant branding and revenue opportunities for a company.

Generate buzz for your products and services by participating in the 2012 SEMA News Product and Catalog Showcase featured in the June issue of SEMA News.

Ted Halibrand didn’t invent the performance wheel, but his influence over the category looms large. He was a car guy long before the wheel business, working on and racing midgets on Southern California’s oval tracks during the years leading up to World War II.

SEMA News—the official publication of SEMA—is extending the content of the monthly magazine to include in-depth coverage of industry suppliers on a regular basis.

A special group of enthusiasts were invited by SEMA to attend the 2011 SEMA Show to participate in a social-media campaign. They were granted access to the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday, November 3, to carry out a special mission—identify at least five hot, new products and broadcast their opinions across the Internet.

A company might produce the best product the world has ever seen, but it may as well not exist if people don’t know about it. That’s why retail advertising to end-users is crucial to bringing business into a store or to a sales website. And for manufacturers, advertising to both retail and wholesale customers is vital to moving inventory from the warehouse to store shelves and, ultimately, to installation on a customer’s car or truck.

While Google+ boasts 40 million members, it’s still relatively small for a social network. Nonetheless, many businesses have wasted no time scrambling to set up their own pages there. Search-engine optimization (SEO) experts say that the land grab is a smart move, since businesses with a presence on Google+ are expected to move up higher on Google search-engine returns.

In January 1963, Tom McMullen posed in his flamed Deuce highboy for Hot Rod magazine’s Eric Rickman in front of Beckman Instruments, where McMullen worked as an electronics technician.