The 2025 SEMA Future Trends Report from SEMA Market Research is now available for download, offering WTSBC members an inside look at emerging trends impacting the automotive aftermarket industry.
Below are findings from the report that are relevant to companies in the wheel, tire, suspension, and brake sectors. Download the complete report here.
Potential Tariff Impacts
What’s Trending
- Tariffs are a looming specter, with the potential to increase costs for OEMs, part manufacturers, and consumers.
- Most of the exposure is likely to small- and mid-sized parts manufacturers, who rely on international supply chains for some of their components and materials.
- Prices for parts affected by tariffs would be more extreme because of supply chains built around imports from Mexico and Canada, both of which are highly integrated into the U.S. auto industry.
- Between 2020-23, prices for parts imported to the U.S. increased 9%, due to higher prices for electrical and electronic equipment.
- Tariffs disproportionately impact businesses that pay upfront for goods and services, with small- and medium-sized companies potentially experiencing cash-flow issues, delayed payments, and reduced capacity and inventory.
SEMA Says:
“It’s important to understand how President Donald Trump has historically used tariffs, which he sees as negotiating tools to create leverage against other nations on issues unrelated to trade, like immigration and defense spending,” said Karen Bailey-Chapman, SEMA’s senior vice president for public and government affairs. “Tariffs with big numbers, like 25% or higher, are often introduced by President Trump at the negotiating table, or even publicly, but he also has shown a willingness to withdraw or suspend them when a deal is within reach. As a result, what you see in the headlines does not always materialize.”
ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles
What’s Trending
- While fully self-driving vehicles remain a long way off, ADAS features are becoming increasingly prevalent in Americans’ vehicles.
- While very few vehicles had automatic emergency braking capabilities in 2015, well over 90% of new vehicles from model year 2023 featured such a system.
- Automatic emergency braking, which was non-existent before 2015, can now be found in more than 67 million vehicles on the road.
SEMA Says:
“ADAS is really affecting the vehicle market; there is a broad mass of cars and trucks already on the road that have these features onboard,” says Byun. “For example, as of May 2018, all new OEM passenger cars and light trucks were required to have backup cameras. In model-year ’22, more than 90% had collision warning systems.”