Taking Care of Your Business
SEMA Show attendees visit the Business Services section of the Las Vegas Convention Center searching for tools to tune-up their day-to-day operations.
Business
Trendspotting
About this product:
In an effort to better analyze the tastes and preferences of today’s auto enthusiasts, SEMA, in coordination with Ford, launched the Enthusiast Opinion Leader Research Program at the 2009 SEMA Show.
The program invited 527 enthusiasts, selected through a rigorous application process, to the second day of the Show and tasked them with using social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to broadcast their personal product and trend highlights of the Show.
Finding Financing
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This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.
Money has been tight for more than two years. Small businesses were especially hard hit by the recession that began late in 2007, with some estimates indicating that companies suffered sales losses ranging from 10% to 40% or more. The resulting constriction resulted in layoffs, cutbacks, inventory reductions and consolidations that made a bad situation even worse for businesses that were on the bubble between solvency and bankruptcy. Some did not survive.
Mobile-Electronics New Products
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At the 2009 SEMA Show, 10,603 buyers filled the aisles looking for the latest mobile-electronics products and innovations. To satisfy their appetites, 102 exhibitors in the mobile-electronics section turned attendees on to the newest gadgets driving the custom audio, video and portable infotainment accessories industry. Buyers were clearly interested in grabbing information on the latest technologies and accessories, scanning the barcodes of mobile-electronics products registered in the New Products Showcase more than 4,500 times during the Show.
Vehicle Connectivity
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Every modern vehicle is dependent upon electronics. From the engine’s ignition to sound systems, from safety sensors to climate controls, electronics have become integral to how vehicles operate and how their drivers perceive the on-road experience. And now electronics from outside the vehicle are resulting in a whole new wave of connectivity.
SEMA Is Serious About Powersports
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In any given year, the SEMA Show has more than 130 exhibitors that manufacture, distribute or retail powersports products. At the 2009 SEMA Show, a dedicated Powersports & Utility Vehicles section debuted in the upper South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, adjacent to the Trucks, SUVs & Off-Road section. Sixty exhibitors chose to display in the new section, while approximately 70 more elected to exhibit within other sections of the Show.
Advanced Vehicle Technology
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Vehicle technologies are accelerating as rapidly as an American Le Mans Series racer exiting a hairpin onto a straightaway. The new watchwords for automotive development include vehicle electrification, hybrids, gas direct injection (GDI), clean diesels and next-generation green performance. For SEMA-member companies, the landscape is erupting with innovation and opportunity. But where is it all going? Where are we now, and where are we headed? We asked those questions and many more when we sat down recently with SEMA Vice President of Vehicle Technology John Waraniak.
2009 SEMA Show Exhibitors Showcase a Truck Load of New Gear
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South Hall’s Finest
Here are just some of the dynamic products that debuted in the Truck, SUV and Off-Road section of the 2009 SEMA Show.
Truck, SUV and Off-Road Trends
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The entire automotive landscape has changed over the past two years, but the effects of higher fuel prices and a deep recession may be most evident in the truck, sport utility and off-road segments of the industry. Super-sized SUVs have been particularly hard hit, with sales dropping precipitously and one previously vaunted brand vanishing into the dust of a receding market. Still, while ruts and rocks obscure the way, brighter vistas are coming into view.
ProPledge: Customize With Confidence
The ProPledge Program—Why You Need to Be Involved
SEMA News recently had an opportunity to catch up with ProPledge Director of Operations Joe Sebergandio. Having just returned from the annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference, where he and the rest of the ProPledge staff met with potential participants, Sebergandio took time out to discuss the fundamentals of ProPledge as well as provide insight into the program’s future.
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