The Product Development Expo, fueled by the SEMA Garage, and sponsored by the SEMA Data Co-op and the Emerging Trends & Technology Network, will be held Thursday, April 10, at SEMA headquarters in Diamond Bar, California.

The expo will provide specialty-equipment companies with insight on how the methods for vehicle production have been transformed on the OEM level—specifically during the past 10 years— and require companies to adapt quickly to new and emerging technologies to stay competitive.

Companies interested in exhibiting at the 2014 SEMA Show, set for November 4–7, 2014, in Las Vegas, may now submit applications for space. Manufacturers that apply before the April 11 deadline will participate in the Priority Booth Space Selection process, where exhibitors are assigned their booth location in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The SEMA Show typically attracts more than 130,000 individuals from more than 125 countries, making the show the world’s premier automotive trade event where buyers and sellers meet to do business.

Do you see increasing examples of trademark rip-offs and illegal knock-off products showing up in online marketing and catalogs? SEMA is hearing more often from members experiencing intellectual property (IP) infringement problems. Protecting IP is something that many industries have struggled with for some time, and our industry is clearly no exception.

For a number of years now, SEMA has maintained policies and procedures to prevent the display of products, trademarks and trade dress that violate the IP rights of other SEMA exhibitors. Our goal has always been to ensure proper protection of the IP of industry members.

Though Japan slipped from the number-three car consumer worldwide in 2011 to number five in 2012, love for automobiles remains very strong among the Japanese. Like Americans, the Japanese are holding on to their cars longer, which makes for a very interesting opportunity for the custom market. People have a desire to give their cars a facelift after a few years when they hold on to them, and that results in more sales for those engaged in the custom-car market. From swapping out wheels to updating headlights to modernizing the entertainment system, the aftermarket business in Japan is booming, and consumers continue to look for new products to enhance their driving experiences.

Actually, the photo you see here represents the dawn of several eras. The picture was taken at the very first SEMA Show, which was known in 1967 as the High Performance & Custom Trade Show and was held in January of that year at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The car in the booth is a Camaro, Chevrolet’s answer to Ford’s wildly popular Mustang.

After letting Ford own the personal sporty-car market for more than two years, Chevrolet finally introduced its entry into the pony-car segment just a few months prior to the trade show. For musclecar enthusiasts, the booth represents a watershed moment—the very first Chevrolet dealer, Nickey Chicago, to offer a big-block conversion for the Camaro, developed by Nickey and race car builder Bill Thomas.

2015 SRT Challenger and Mercedes AMG GT.

KGP Photography caught this thinly covered prototype of the upcoming Mercedes AMG GT on film in the snow.

The pros at KGP Photography snapped these shots of the ’15 SRT Challenger, revealing an interior overhaul that includes a new dash, switchgear, instrumentation and a quality level.

Breaking news from SEMA members, including Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT), Royal Purple, Motul USA, ProMedia LLC, Painless Performance and more.