Each year in Las Vegas members of the automotive community and industry gather together in Las Vegas for one of the largest conventions in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people gather around the large halls looking at project vehicles, new products and talk to potential clients and manufacturers. For some it’s all about fun and games. Take a look around, browse the booths, check out the cars, take pictures with the hot girls and go on and party it out the rest of the day/night. For others it’s all about standing there and watching over your booth trying to attract as much potential sales as possible. No matter whom you are though, when the convention closes each day SEMA turns into a blistering hurricane of night life activities, events and more business. Whether it is parties or OE-hosted leisure dinners, there’s always something to do the second you leave the floor of the convention center. For us however, it’s all about capturing what SEMA is and taking a close good look at where our industry is heading for 2009. As many of us know, the declining economy has startled the automotive aftermarket with many manufacturers pulling out of the show last minute, as well as declining sales resulting in some, let’s say, less than favorable decisions. Regardless though, we were excited to see what the industry had in store for us and see how they were going to fight back against the economy and help ride the wave and keep our industry thriving and growing. The first thing we noticed was definitely the re-emergence of domestic vehicles in overwhelming the presence of the show floor as well as the outside vehicles. The new Nissan GT-R were a plentiful, in fact they became borderline mundane at SEMA. But then again, if it is anywhere in the world where the GT-R would be commonplace it would be at this show. The presence of luxury and high end automobiles was overwhelming. It almost seems like many of the companies are progressing through showcasing the ‘bling’ along with their products. This was especially true in the wheel and tire hall, where it often was a mixture of sport compact and luxury and high end automobiles. While we missed one of our favorite manufacturers, GReddy, at the show, other dominant partners including HKS and AEM were on hand. AEM continued to show their excellence in product development and marketing by showcasing their two-time Formula D championship 350Z and Stephan Papadakis’ own S2000. By now many of you have heard through the rumor mill that Tanner Foust will be piloting an AEM converted Scion tC for next year’s season. We can’t wait to see it. The Hyundai Genesis also received plenty of buzz over the year and we were happy to see some of them come to fruition, especially in the HKS booth. Their red Hyundai was absolutely stunning and killer, something we thought we’d never associate to a vehicle sporting that moniker. Nonetheless we’re excited to see how Rhys Millen’s Genesis fares in Formula D competition, and there was plenty of coverage from that vehicle. Leading up to the show, we followed around the boys from Theory Communications and got the inside look at the Tjin Edition Pontiac G8 and Tjin Edition Honda Fit. Both were respectively showcased in their booths with the Pontiac G8 winning Best Exterior Design Award from GM. Congratulations to the Tjin Edition team on another year well done with projects. NOS Energy Drink continued to impress with their Naughty NOS Girls Alicia Whitten and Corissa Furr on display. They weren’t the only beautiful girls to be on the show floor however. Falken Tires as always was one of our favorite booths to visit; this year showcasing a wide range of vehicles and plenty of models for us to ogle over. We’d like to leave thinking that the industry is doing well and thriving, but our gut instinct was that this year was a cautious year for many. Some were extra careful in not spending the funds necessary for an entire week at SEMA, while others made a strong push during the weaker economy. You know what they say: those that advertise during a recession win out at the other end. So tons of respect goes out to the companies that continued to pursue and support the industry despite hard and trying financial times for many. We definitely didn’t feel the same buzz and excitement as usual, and while the new products were plentiful, nothing was ground breaking. This is on par with the entire industry wanting to play it safe and make what works, what sells, not what innovates. The overwhelming presence of 30k-40k European automobiles tuned to perfection however is definitely a sign of things to come. It’s no longer a Japanese-made model world out there, Europeans are becoming extremely popular, especially with the E92 335i and M3 on the market, affordable C-class with stylish lines and Porsches aplenty. The new Evo X has already made a strong mark with the aftermarket, and the 350Z/G35/G37 continues to stay strong. Nevertheless we were excited to put an end to another arduous week at SEMA and we hope you enjoy the coverage photos. We’ll keep an ear to the ground and report back as much as we can over the course of the next couple of days as we continue to update with more and more coverage.
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