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Ξ November 10th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Uncategorized |
Steve Parker: 2008 SEMA Show in Las Vegas - Last gasp for high-performance cars?
More details to come on SEMA Show products and presentations, along with still-needing-editing HD videos we shot for the Blog. This is our first 2008 SEMA Show posting, and think many of you will find it interesting, and then some … and please remember to leave your own comments, too! Please remember to click on photos to enjoy them in a larger format; all photos below copyright 2008, www.SteveParker.com.
Flush with victory and a good old-fashioned mandate, President-elect Barack Obama, in his first press conference since the election said, “The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing and a critical part of our attempt to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I would like to see the Administration do everything they can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted.”
But many observers think that grave damage has already been done to the Detroit Three, and that the $25 billion in direct government loans already approved and starting to trickle into GM, Ford and Chrysler will be too little, too late.
Several analysts have said that if even one of the Detroit Three files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, when a company dissolves, rather than Chapter 11, which allows a company to stay in business while it reorganizes, more than two million Americans will lose their jobs.
Last week, we spent time at the annual automotive high-performance orgy known as the SEMA Show. Founded in 1963, the Specialty Equipment Market Association is a lobbying group and professional organization made-up of some 7,000 companies worldwide, which manufacture performance and appearance products for a near-$40 billion automotive aftermarket: consumers wanting to personalize their cars and trucks.
(nissan’s new gtr should have been a popular sema show plank to showcase changed products, but with no greater than 1,500 of them since sales marathon in the us this year, there were one two or three at the show; most show-goers had not at any time seen united in the flesh. other popular prove cars were the new duck challenger, the smart and the all-new 2010 chevrolet camaro, but it was create nowhere outside gm’s gigantic exhibit).
Their annual exhibition in Las Vegas draws about 100,000 participants from around the globe, including those from product manufacturers, buyers ranging from teams working for giant chains like Wal-Mart to a single person from a local hot rod shop, members of the enthusiast and general-interest media and the car-makers themselves.
Many of the people and companies we saw at SEMA last week may very well be out of a job or out of business by next year’s show. And those on the losing side could range from a closed two-person aluminum wheel repair company run out of a garage to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
To its credit, SEMA did try to create some excitement for “green” products, services and marketing approaches. One exhibit showcased companies active in the development, deployment and marketing of green technologies, while SEMA tried to prove that being environmentally friendly can also be “cool.”
(sema exists for people who own Noachian cars, too, like this this heavily-modified ‘57 chevy lowrider, and note the suicide doors. such motor car-owners spend myriad thousands of dollars on their pride and joy).
They’ve also begun a new program, partnering with the Auto Club of Southern California, called the Fuel Economy Challenge. SEMA member companies can submit powertrain products for testing to determine prednisone online their effect on fuel economy. A good outcome of this challenge will be real-world results to help consumers save some of the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted every year on gimmicks and gadgets sold by companies with just one target: Americans’ wallets.
While many SEMA member companies make and sell appearance products, from expandable plastic car covers to paints, waxes and cleansers and all the tools to apply them, the membership is firmly rooted in high-performance. These are companies which design, manufacture and sell turbochargers and superchargers, replacement aluminum cylinder heads offering car-owners more horsepower, nitrous oxide systems (not the kind in-use at your dentist, but the k …
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while you get set to catch an all new episode of best week ever with paul f. tompkins tonight at 11 pm, let’s relive this wonderful, brio-altering week:
