Wheels continue to be one of the first modifications that car and truck owners make to their vehicles. The popularity of these products may be one reason why wheels are so prominent at the SEMA Show. Located in the lower South Hall, where buyer activity tends to be among the highest, the SEMA Show’s Wheels & Accessories section is a key destination for many. Just take a look at what the media captured at last year’s event.

Changing the look and feel of a vehicle instantly, wheels and wheel accessories remain extremely popular with buyers and enthusiasts. In fact, for the 2010 SEMA Show a total of 17,839 buyers noted a specific interest in wheels, hubcaps and related accessories on their registration questionnaire. More than 140 exhibitors were on hand to satisfy their curiosity, exhibiting in a new Show section dedicated exclusively to wheels and related accessories.

This issue of SEMA News continues our tradition of highlighting the great new products our manufacturers unleashed at the SEMA Show. Through SEMA News, the SEMA website and a variety of other media outlets, we amplify and carry forward one of the Show’s primary value propositions: creating high-level awareness for the industry’s innovative and trendsetting new products.

The economy and the environment have been the major drivers for many markets over the last three years, and they have also been consistent topics of conversation among tire and wheel experts. The tire industry underwent a sort of accordion buckling in inventory as the economic slowdown led consumers to balk at anything other than critical expenditures and then pent-up demand caused a sudden resurgence.

The specialty-equipment market is divided into nine niches.