Trucks, SUVs and Off-Road

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The SEMA Show Launches the Industry’s Most Comprehensive Off-Road Trade Extravaganza

To a large extent, SEMA comes from a heritage of hot rods, custom cars and high-performance engineering.  Dating to the 1970s, SEMA membership has been equally active when it comes to appearance and performance equipment for the light truck and off-road segments.  Taken as a whole, the Trucks, SUVs, and Off-road category makes SEMA the industry’s largest off-road trade show.  The section exceeds 400 companies and 2,000 booths, making it the second-largest section of the SEMA Show.

The Trucks, SUVs and Off-Road section will display world-class off-road vehicles and accessories in one contiguous space.

Attending will be trade buyers intent on finding the latest equipment, seeing how it works on real vehicle applications, meeting with the innovators and manufacturers, and creating strong, profitable business relationships.

Trucks, SUVs, and Off-road represents the most mainstream of the show sections as trucks and SUVs now outsell passenger cars.  Light trucks were once considered only working vehicles; pickup trucks for farmers and contractors, vans for delivery trades and SUVs for those whose work required a vehicle that was a cross between a pickup and a van.  Today, they represent approximately half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S.  In fact, the Trucks, SUVs, and Off-road section of the market contributes the largest amount of market revenue to the $31 billion automotive equipment aftermarket industry. 

Much like the light-truck market, off-road vehicles now take on a more personal or recreational context.  In fact, many off-road vehicles, and the automotive specialty equipment purchased for them, never venture off paved streets and highways.  But they all present that durable, rugged image associated with the necessities of off-roading.

The SEMA Show is the most powerful business tool anyone in the off-road community has today; it is the nexus for new ideas and new relationships.  This year’s improved show layout, centralized displays, workshops and educational outreach.

The section highlights the full breadth of the off-road industry between the extreme and the mainstream, between the novice off-roaders and the all-star daredevils, and between the calmer ride/drives and the outrageous rock crawling performance demonstrations.

From the latest in grilleguards to the most protective skid plate, the Off-road Proving Grounds, presented by UROC, sponsored by WARN Industries will bring together legacy brands and leading edge entrepreneurs – companies taking their energy from off-road desert racing, sand competitions, endurance rallies or high-performance trail blazing.  SEMA will invite show attendees to participate in an Extreme Crawling Demonstration and get behind the wheel of the latest off-road machines equipped with the newest SEMA member performance and appearance accessories.  The UROC-designed Crawling event and off-road course is part of SEMA’s new interactive show focus which features the SuperCrawl All-Stars and other legendary off-roading professionals.

Tire and suspension brands, central to each activity’s special needs, will be featured; and with them new and featured vehicles, specialized mobile electronics and communications set-ups, and a host of appearance and convenience technology exhibits.  An expanded new products showcase and off-road feature vehicle area will complete the section.

While wholesale buyers will spend countless hours learning what’s hot in the off-highway zone, vehicle manufacturers will clearly see the early benefits of SEMA’s proactive technology transfer initiatives in this section.  The technical-transfer program enables members access to confidential technical data, provided to SEMA by automakers, in advance of actual product launches.  Having the ability to design and manufacture aftermarket performance and appearance accessories in sync with a new vehicle introduction was unheard of only a few years ago.  The result today is the launch of new and important vehicles and the availability of compatible aftermarket equipment. 

To foster continued growth and greater cooperation between member companies, The Light-Truck Accessory Alliance (LTAA) has been dedicated to the trucks, SUVs and off-road industry through networking and educational opportunities, activities and displays.  The LTAA will have a strong presence in the Trucks, SUVs, and Off-road section with the key members available to give valuable information, enroll perspective members, and promote future enrichment programs for the industry.

The Trucks, SUVs, and Off-road section of the 2005 SEMA Show provide today’s business leaders and employees with the same education and training opportunities in the automotive aftermarket industry that SEMA provides throughout the year. These educational tools include: technical seminars, workshops, certification programs, and hands-on demonstrations.  A complete list of off-road seminars, locations and activities is available at www.SEMAshow.com. 

Following the enhanced focus on the off-road segment at the SEMA Show, the organization is taking its efforts to target and serve the off-road market to the next level by launching an off-road exclusive event, March 24-25, in Indianapolis, Indiana.   The stand-alone SEMA Offroad Show designed as a companion event to the well-established SEMA Spring Expo, will target companies serving the recreational and performance off-road segments and aims to create new opportunities for this growing market.