One of the great recreation events for car enthusiasts in this country was held last week. I am referring to the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
Each year we seem to see fewer and fewer national or international get-togethers for some automotive activity. Car shows worldwide are being challenged for their very existence, and many other automotive events seem to be struggling.
But it is nice to know that SEMA seems alive and well, with thousands of automotive folks flocking to Las Vegas every year.
I have been around long enough to remember when it was the Speed Equipment convention and it was held in Southern California.
But that is nothing more than a foggy memory and has long been replaced with thousands of automotive executives coming to Vegas to see and buy the latest in aftermarket and OEM factory wares.
It is nothing short of a circus of products available for everyone in the aftermarket to peruse. Whatever you happen to be interested in at SEMA, it will be on display somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of square feet of convention space. By both attendance and acreage, it ranks among the largest trade shows in the U.S.
Each year, the automakers seem to be out in force, showing off the latest and greatest. It is, as always, interesting to see the shift from cars to trucks and SUVs. There appears to be plenty of room for both. And although there is a lot of publicity around the world for electric vehicles, it would appear that they have not yet caught on much at SEMA.
Whatever automotive parts and services interest you and your company, you can be sure that there will be lots of exhibitors displaying them. Regardless of what the pundits tell us about auto shows falling out of fashion, there are more exhibitors than ever with more products — both old and new — at the show. If they have some extra space, you would never know it.
SEMA still seems to be the place that everyone goes for the latest in automotive. It has everything in which an automaker or dealer might have an interest. It is getting bigger every year. It is still a circus without the cotton candy.
