SEMA PLANS 2003 TRADE AND CONSUMER SHOWS AND MEETINGS
DIAMOND BAR, Calif. (January 2003) - SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, will provide several distinctive trade show and meeting venues for the automotive specialty equipment market this year. One of the shows will be open to consumers as well as industry personnel. Two others, held offshore, will help SEMA member companies expand their international business activities. Two meetings without exhibits will provide SEMA member companies with access to privileged or proprietary information from other SEMA member companies. Domestic SEMA Shows SEMA Spring Expo and TCAA Will Co-Locate in 2003 Come February, the SEMA Spring Expo featuring TCAA and PRO will kick off the domestic 2003 SEMA Show season. This show, set for the weekend of Feb.14-15 in the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., will combine SEMA's newest regional and niche show, the SEMA Spring Expo, with the more established TCAA Light-Truck Accessory Expo, an event organized under the auspices of the Truck Cap & Accessory Alliance, a SEMA council devoted to the light-truck accessories market. PRO, SEMA's Professional Restylers Organization, will incorporate some of its SEMA-council activities into the show in Tennessee, including its general membership meeting and its annual awards ceremony and reception. PRO will sponsor a seminar track for the show's attendees on Saturday morning, Feb. 15. The TCAA events traditionally held during its Light-Truck Accessory Expo, including the TCAA annual meeting and awards banquet, are on the schedule for Nashville. TCAA has planned a track of educational Industry Day seminars on Thursday, Feb. 13, the day preceding the Expo. In 2002, SEMA's TCAA and SEMA Spring Expo trade shows, combined, drew more than 4,000 attendees, many of them from the eastern section of the United States. SEMA International Auto Salon Moves to LA for 2003 The compact performance market niche, valued at $1.5 billion for retail-level product sales in 2001, has its own freestanding SEMA event midyear between annual SEMA Shows. Although participants in this market segment exhibit at, and attend, the SEMA Show in the fall, this newest and fastest- growing market segment in the automotive specialty equipment market benefits from a separate show of its own which is open to industry professionals and to the consumers who are their customers. The sixth annual SEMA International Auto Salon (IAS) will be held on Friday, April 25, through Sunday, April 27, 2003, in the Los Angeles Convention Center. Previous locations for IAS were the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., and the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. In 2002, more than 16,000 people attended IAS, and millions more read, heard, or watched coverage of the IAS in media outlets. 2003 SEMA Show SEMA has planned its world-renowned SEMA Show 2003 for Tuesday, Nov. 4, through Friday, Nov. 7, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It will be SEMA's 38th annual show, and the 27th consecutive one held in Las Vegas. SEMA customarily holds its annual Innovations Day of seminars and previews on the Monday preceding the show. The 2002 SEMA Show, held in Las Vegas as part of Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week in November, attracted 86,787 attendees from more than 120 countries to view the exhibits by 1,557 companies in 7,700 booths. Nearly 40,000 buyers (39,879) attended the Las Vegas event. More than 1,500 project vehicles were on display at the SEMA Show, and more than 700 products competed for awards in best new product and merchandising categories. International Shows International Auto Aftermarket Expo 2003 Set for Chiba, Japan Some SEMA members will attend the second International Auto Aftermarket Expo 2003 (IAAE 2003), scheduled for Thursday, March 6, through Sunday, March 9, at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. This is the largest business-to-business aftermarket show in Japan, and has been subtitled 'Portal to the Asian Market' because of the large number of participants from the Asian region. At the 2002 Expo, more than 30 percent of the visitors were from Japanese or Asian OEM and OEM-related companies. Last year's inaugural event was co-sponsored by SEMA in conjunction with several other aftermarket associations, Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation (MLIT); and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). PAACE Automechanika in Mexico Concentrates On North, South American Markets SEMA members will participate as exhibitors and buyers in the 10th annual PAACE Automechanika Mexico set for Wednesday, July 16, through Friday, July 18, in Mexico City's Centro de Exposiciones y Convenciones las Americas. PAACE (Pan-American Automotive Components Expo), the largest automotive aftermarket trade show in Mexico, draws buyers from all over the North and South American continents. SEMA Special Events In addition to its domestic and international shows, SEMA organizes several meetings where its members can gain information to help their business, including the 2003 MPMC Media Trade Conference (Jan. 21-23 in Los Angeles) where members of the media have one-on-one editorial meetings with SEMA manufacturers in the performance segment of the industry. The 11th annual SEMA/ OEM Tech Talks is scheduled for Monday, May 5, through Thursday, May 8, 2003, in Dearborn, Mich. The four-day program provides education about OE industry trends, emerging technologies and advances in powertrain developments to the attendees (SEMA manufacturers and their representatives) and provides them not only with access to behind-the-scenes operations at the three Detroit-based carmakers but also the opportunity to ride-and-drive some of the newest and not-yet-introduced vehicles. In addition, SEMA has other council and committee meetings, such as the MRC (Manufacturers Rep Council) Rep Conference, and participates with other industry organizations in events such as the Hotrod & Restoration Trade Show. For information about these and other SEMA- organized activities, contact SEMA at 909/396-0289, or visit www.sema.org.