SEMA Announces the Chrysler Group Will Be the Featured OEM of the 2002 SEMA Show

DIAMOND BAR, Calif., Jan. 31 -- Chrysler Group will be the featured original equipment manufacturer (OEM) at this year's SEMA Show, according to SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association. The annual show is scheduled for Tuesday-Friday, Nov. 5-8, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In the past several years, it has become the custom for featured OEMs to use the SEMA Show venue to launch new car and truck models and to gain the automotive industry's reaction to concept vehicles.

``Chrysler Group is pleased to once again be the featured marque of the SEMA Show. Our presence marks our 26th year as an exhibitor,'' said Jim Schroer, executive vice president, global sales and marketing, Chrysler Group. ``This show provides an opportunity to showcase the adaptability of Chrysler Group vehicles for personalization and accessorization. We see continued marketing opportunities and promotional advantages as key factors of our participation and will use this venue to feature all of the Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep® brands in this increasingly important marketplace.''

In addition to the Chrysler Group, other OEM exhibitors at the 2002 SEMA Show will include Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Panoz and Toyota. The OEM presence at the SEMA Show has grown from three manufacturers to the current 10 over the past five years.

``We welcome the Chrysler Group's participation as the 2002 Vehicle Manufacturer of the SEMA Show,'' said Chris Kersting, SEMA executive vice president. ``We are confident that our 2002 OEM partner will use this opportunity to great advantage, increasing brand awareness and leveraging its position in this very competitive automotive market.''

The 2002 SEMA Show will occupy the newly expanded Las Vegas Convention Center. The expansion has made more room available for the carmakers' exhibits and those of the more than 1,300 other automotive specialty equipment, accessories, and tire companies at the SEMA Show this fall. All told, there will be more than 700,000 net square feet of exhibit space, 690,000 of which is already committed to 2002 SEMA Show exhibitors. The Convention Center's expanded space will allow all of the show's exhibitors to be under one roof for the first time since 1996.

The 2001 SEMA Show featured more than 900 project vehicles, had approximately 700 entries into its new product competition, and drew 69,353 attendees from 124 countries. The SEMA Show is held concurrently with the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX). The two trade shows comprise the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week (AAIW), one of the three largest business gatherings in Las Vegas.

General Motors, the 2001-featured OEM, used last fall's show not only to feature the 2002 Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, and Oldsmobile Bravada, but also to announce a technology-sharing program, tek-connect, for SEMA and its members. The tek-connect program allows SEMA manufacturer members to access specifications and dimensional drawings of General Motors vehicles so they can design, engineer and manufacture accessories. Ford has a similar program for SEMA's manufacturer members called the SEMA/Ford Technology Transfer.