GM HD Single-Cab, Chassis-Cab Prototypes and 2016 Ford Raptor Mule?

Breaking news from SEMA members, including Meyer Distributing, CTEK Group, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products, RealTruck.com and more.

SEMA invites industry professionals to the first stop of the 2014 Town Hall tour, where members and prospective members will gather at Flowmaster, B&M & Hurst Warehouse in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday, January 29, from 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m., for an evening of networking with local industry leaders and SEMA staff. The panelists for the Town Hall include SEMA Chairman Nate Shelton, B&M Racing and Performance Products Inc.; Joel Ayres, Bedslide/Tākit Inc.; and John Hotchkis, Hotchkis Performance LLC.

SEMA’s Town Hall Meetings offer members and prospective members an in-depth look at SEMA programs and services offered to all businesses, whether they are manufacturers, retailers, media representatives or service providers. In addition, the event provides members with an ideal networking opportunity with professionals from...

16 Categories Yield 48 Honors From Among More Than 2,000 Entries

More than 2,000 parts, tools, assemblies and packages were submitted for judging at the New Products Showcase during the 2013 SEMA Show. The displays encompassed items from every segment of the industry, and all were reviewed by a panel of expert judges who ranked them for superiority of innovation, technical achievement, quality and workmanship, consumer appeal and marketability. The judges then awarded honors to products in 16 categories, including two runners-up in each division. Congratulations are due to all those who conceive and create the innovations that drive the industry.

Media registration for the 2014 Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC) Media Trade Conference (MTC) is available online. Through the annual event, journalists—including freelancers, bloggers, TV reporters and magazine writers—participate in private, uninterrupted meetings with executives from manufacturing companies.

Reporters are able to select representatives from the companies they wish to meet so that they visit only with companies that are relevant to their outlets. Early registration ensures that reporters receive the best possible schedule in advance of the event, which will be held January 21–23, 2014, at the Embassy Suites Orange County Airport North in Santa Ana, California.

New product announcements from SEMA member companies, including Astro Pneumatic Tool, Cloud-Rider Designs, BedRug, DefenderWorx and Escort.

The Hottest Vehicles of the SEMA Show

During the 2013 SEMA Show, the SEMA Award for Hottest 4x4-SUV went to the Jeep Wrangler. This well-deserved honor was the result of the Wrangler's dominant presence throughout the Show. Here now are some examples of builders turning stock Wranglers into rolling, rugged masterpieces. Take time to scroll through each entry and notice that in every writeup, there are direct links to manufacturers with 2013-2014 Jeep Wrangler accessories.

“The SEMA Show has always been the annual event where the newest and most innovative products are seen first,” said Chris J. Kersting, SEMA president and CEO. “The SEMA Award celebrates the industry’s unique ability to identify and set the trends that influence consumers worldwide. It also underscores the cooperative relationship between the automakers and SEMA-member companies.”

SEMA Show Exhibitors Share Their Perspectives

The 2013 SEMA Show was the biggest in the event’s 47-year history, with more than 126,000 people converging on the Las Vegas Convention Center to do business at the world’s largest annual automotive trade show. We visited a few random exhibitors to ask how the Show was going from their perspective, and this is what we heard.

Vulnerability Awaiting Plunder

“With data collection, ‘the sooner the better’ is always the best answer.”—Marissa Mayer

It’s a simple truth in today’s business environment: Data is driving business like never before, whether it’s data about customers, products, competitors or any number of other factors that determine how well informed we are. For those of us in the automotive specialty-equipment trade, “data” is typically talked about in terms of product data—all of the properly presented words, numbers and pictures that illustrate the full rich value, function and desirability of a particular product.

Not Always a Genius Move

While often ballyhooed as a panacea for the wide variety computing screen sizes company websites must accommodate, one-size-fits-all websites are actually a trade-off that often end up being more trouble than they’re worth.

The problem: these “responsive websites,” as they’re known—or sites that auto-sense a device’s screen size, and then respond by reconfiguring text and graphics to fit that screen size—often render on desktop PCs with ridiculously large text and other over-blown features that are tedious to wade through.