Just about any vehicle can be outfitted with all sorts of aftermarket products. However, with more than 281 million cars and trucks currently on the road in the United States, knowing where the greatest opportunities lay can be challenging. Specialty-equipment businesses will find help in the latest “SEMA Vehicle Landscape Report,” recently released by the SEMA Market Research team. The report examines what’s changing, what categories and vehicle types currently hold the most potential for the aftermarket, and the trends brewing on the horizon.

The recent announcement that the PRI Trade Show is set to return to the Indianapolis Convention Center this December 9–11 marks yet another milestone in a busy year for the company. First, Dr. Jamie Meyer was named PRI president in late spring 2020. Shortly after his arrival, the company launched a series of targeted programs to assist racing businesses and operations suddenly impacted by the pandemic. Among them was the PRI Ambassador Program—an aggressive campaign specially created to help racetrack operators navigate local, state and federal rules required to reopen safely.

The Rainforest Challenge (RFC) India will be held again this year in July 2021 following a hiatus last year due to COVID-19. The Indian edition of the series, which began in 2014, is a grueling seven-day off-roading event for professional drivers.

The automotive aftermarket has evolved through the years—sometimes gradually, other times suddenly—in response to changes in consumer preferences and advances in technology. Through all the permutations, Hot Rod Alley at the SEMA Show has remained a steady industry focal point—a showcase for the aftermarket’s legacy innovators and their latest parts and projects. First popularized during the postwar years by a handful of shade-tree fabricators, the hot-rod marketplace has grown in the decades since into a global industry comprising thousands of companies that constitute a $1.26-billion market sector, according to the most recent survey from the Hot Rod Industry Alliance.

What builders refer to nowadays as the “hot-rod” marketplace has evolved immensely over the last couple of decades with the inclusion of later-model muscle cars and OBD-II-compatible onboard technologies. Nowadays, a stroll around the floor of just about any custom-car show will reveal build ideas that would have seemed inconceivable a couple of generations ago. Would your grandfather have ever envisioned a pony car that ran on battery power only, or a Bluetooth-enabled square-body truck? Welcome to the 21st century.

With just five months to go, SEMA is on track to again deliver an exciting in-person SEMA Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), November 2–5. In addition, the LVCC’s newly constructed West Hall will ensure ample space for new Show features and enhancements.

The SEMA Board of Directors provides strategic direction to the association and plays a critical role in shaping the future of the automotive specialty-equipment industry. There are a total of 10 candidates running for six open seats on the Board for the 2021 election cycle.

SEMA filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Gear Box Z. Inc., arguing against the EPA’s contention that the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not allow a motor vehicle to be converted into a racing vehicle used solely for competition.

If there’s a topic that’s a greater subject of controversy in the automotive world at present than future tech, one would be hard-pressed to name it. By “future tech,” we’re referring to the increased production and popularity of electric and alternative-fuel vehicles; the explosive growth of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) over the past decade and a half; how both of those market trends are influencing consumer behavior and driving the development of semi- and even fully autonomous vehicle (AV) propulsion systems; and how these developments will potentially impact the specialty-equipment aftermarket in the not-too-distant future.

There is something in the air and it smells like a shakedown. Ever since the Volkswagen diesel scandal broke six years ago, it seems like the government has set its sights on the automotive specialty aftermarket. You can’t open the newspaper without reading about another enforcement action or settlement.