SEMA News recently talked with Stuart Charity, executive director of the nearly 30-year-old Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA), and Ben Bartlett, the AAAA’s national membership manager, about the Australian specialty-equipment market amid increasingly positive news that Australia...

Roger Penske gave up a successful racing career to open his first car dealership in 1965, but that didn’t keep him away from the track. He began Penske Racing that same year, and one of his earliest acquisitions was the 1966 Corvette coupe. The car had been used by Chevrolet to develop the L88...

Ford is accepting the final proposals for its annual project vehicle program, due March 1. Act now if you're planning a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury project for 2010.

A substitute bill to ban the use of most aftermarket exhaust systems has been introduced in the Utah Legislature and passed by the Senate Transportation Committee.

Legislation that would have expanded the definition of “abandoned motor vehicle” to include vehicles that were left unattended for more than six hours on private property without valid plates, title or permit will not be considered in the 2010 legislative session.

SEMA again helped turn back legislation in the Washington Legislature that would have implemented a vehicle scrappage program for passenger vehicles more than 15-years old.

A SEMA-supported bill in the West Virginia Legislature to provide owners of antique motor vehicles with a reduced personal property tax assessment has been passed by the Roads and Transportation Committee.

SEMA is supporting a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature to reduce the annual registration fee for vehicles 25 years old and older to $5. Under current law, these vehicles are assessed at a rate of $15 per year.

According to Kansas legislators, support for a SEMA-opposed bill that would allow cities to enforce “nuisance abatement” procedures by notifying affected property owners by use of first-class mail instead of certified mail (with a return receipt) has been withdrawn.

SEMA eNews highlights the websites of SEMA-member companies through the Hot Links to Cool Sites section each week.