The car care/restyling segment was a bright spot during the pandemic. The market registered double-digit point-of-sales gains in 2020 over 2019, with pickup accessories leading the way. For 2021, the market saw steady if not spectacular growth. By itself, the car-care treatment segment represents a $1.86 billion market, according to the “2021 SEMA Market Report.” Considering that many products in the category are relatively inexpensive and can be installed or applied without the need of special tools or training, it’s likely that enthusiasts sheltering at home took advantage of extra downtime to treat their vehicles to some sprucing up.

We contacted several industry experts for this article. The following is a compilation of their insights and observations on the current state of the market and its outlook going forward, edited for clarity and length.

Trends and Products: What’s Moving the Market

“The state of the car-care industry is incredible right now,” said Michael Pennington, director of training, events and consumer relations for Meguiar’s (booth #23443).

“Through COVID, we’ve seen a huge growth in the category as people stayed at home and had more time to work on their projects.”

“The overall state of the restyling industry is very healthy,” said Cristina Jorge, vice president of Specialty Automotive Treatments. “There was a rough patch with inventory in 2020, so those restylers with wholesale businesses who sold direct to retailers suffered a bit.”

Nick Griot, executive vice president of product development and brand for Griot’s Garage (booth #50217), agreed in general while adding a mild caveat: “Worldwide cost increases are touching nearly every part of our market, in particular raw materials and increased transit costs of sourced components. This will invariably lead to price increases that may bring demand back down to earth.”

David Korvah, marketing manager for Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions (booth #52119), expressed similar caution. Due to a variety of external factors, he said, “People who normally would be spending on auto restyling may be holding off more now than they have in the past six years.”

Many of the products most favored by consumers in recent years continued to exert a strong pull in 2022. Jorge added that vinyl wrapping is something she’s seen quite a bit over the last few years. 

“I also see ceramic coating really starting to take off now, particularly in terms of consumer awareness,” she said. “My customers in general would never typically ask for that, but I have people asking for it by name now.” 

Ceramic coating applicators are also faring well. 

“The large-scale adaptation of machine polishing as a prerequisite for superior ceramic results has helped the polisher market grow at an explosive rate,” Griot said. “Our purpose-built machine polishers have done very well as a result of this shift to ceramic surface protection.”

“Strong areas [in restyling] include paint protection film, wrapping film and window tint,” Korvah said. “We’re also seeing more shops doing both vehicle graphics and window film. Those used to be separate specialties.”

An increase in purpose-built vehicles has likewise piqued interest in idiosyncratic styling applications—in a word, “retro,” said Courtney Pahlke, owner of Top Coverage Ltd. 

“With a lot of Jeep and truck builds over the past few years, we’ve noticed a lot of retro color schemes and wheel packages,” she said.

“Now, with the new Bronco appealing to the ‘retro’ market, we’re seeing even more of it, so I think we’ll see a lot of ’80s and ’90s grunge-type colors in the future.”