C7 Corvette Prototype, Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, 2014 GMC Sierra Denali, 2013 Ford Focus

The candidates for the 2013–2016 SEMA Board of Directors have been announced. The members of SEMA’s Board volunteer their time to provide industry insight and a business-level perspective that contributes to the direction of the association. That strategic direction plays a critical role in shaping the future of the automotive specialty-equipment industry.

Voting for the 2013–2016 SEMA Board of Directors Election will be open and available online between May 15 and June 11. Voting is open to current SEMA members, and votes must be submitted by the designated primary contact of each voting SEMA-member company.

One Company’s Methods May Be a Model for Others

SEMA members are increasingly finding overseas markets and growing their exports, at least in part by taking advantage of resources and opportunities made available through SEMA. Royal Purple is one such company. Last year, international sales of its consumer products grew from almost nothing to around $60,000. Now it is setting its sights much higher.

Search-Engine Optimization

The single most critical factor to search-engine optimization (SEO) success is creating amazing content—‘share-worthy’ content that is so useful, meaningful and interesting to your target audience that they want to consume it, share it with their own audiences and talk about it,” said Susan Gunelius, author of Content Marketing for Dummies.

Automakers Predict Growth, Show Newest Models

Auto-sales analysts are predicting growth in car sales overall—some to levels as high as 15.4 million for 2013. That would be good news for aftermarket manufacturers and retailers, as unit growth in the types of vehicles that enthusiasts tend to customize continues to gain momentum.

Segment Shows Its Continued Strength at SEMA Show

For a third straight year, the American automotive industry has posted impressive sales gains, with the truck category leading the way. As of December 2012, Ford’s F-series truck again topped sales charts, with 645,316 units sold—up 10.3% over 2011. As in the previous year, Chevrolet’s Silverado came in second with 418,312 units sold. Meanwhile, Ram also made the Top 10 list, coming in fifth with sales of 293,363 units.

New Models Take Center Stage

A host of cars and trucks that could be important to SEMA-member retailers and manufacturers were debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Among those likely to be of interest to enthusiasts and the companies that serve them are the ’14 Corvette, ’14 Lexus IS and ’14 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Also shown was a concept version of what is thought to be Ford’s next F-Series pickup. If there was a single theme to the show, it was about enhancing mileage without sacrificing performance.

Selling to the Young Motorsports Segment

There is little doubt that motorsports has matured as a mainstream sporting genre in the last five decades, helping to grow the performance aftermarket into a stable, nearly $30-billion industry. Of course, the hope is that both motorsports and the industry will also stay forever young amid this maturation, with fresh new faces rejuvenating the racing scene and manufacturers continuing to revitalize their product lines. So which racing segments are “young” today, and how does the industry engage them?

The Racing & Performance section of the SEMA Show is the largest on the floorplan, completely taking over the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center each year.

In 2012, a total of 507 exhibitors set up booths, entering a vast array of their latest offerings into the Ideas Alive, featuring the New Products Showcase. The following pages represent more than 500 of the new and featured products that exhibitors registered in the Showcase. Along with the products, journalist Steve Campbell interviewed industry executives to get their thoughts about the trends they perceive and some words of advice about what might lie ahead.