Automotive Aftermarket, the US market flexes its muscles at Sema and Aapex

Las Vegas, Nevada, has, for several years now, been synonymous with automotive in the USA especially during the Halloween week. The Automotive aftermarket industry week, organized and managed as always by Sema, housed accessories and tuning parts, wheels, tires and garage equipment as well as a bodywork section and car care sector, with Italian manufacturers playing an increasingly visible role; then there is Aapex, the Automotive aftermarket products expo, dedicated to spare parts and accessories with a strong American presence, as one would expect, with several global brands representing a rather vast sector, not to mention international exhibitors coming from all over the world and a massive presence of Asian collective stands.
 
With over 160,000 participants and 1.3 million square feet of exhibition space, Sema is one of the world's largest trade shows (source: Sema show media). Here the entire aftermarket industry, from top managers to workshop operators not to mention custom car designers and "artists", so popular in the US, meet to create an event where business, profit margins and showbiz create the perfect mix, providing the opportunity to indulge in all the new market trends “flavoured” by solid North American traditions.
 
First of all, the numbers of the sector: the automotive aftermarket industry is still going strong and experienced a 4% growth over last year (source: Specialty equipment manufacturer's association), which means that both the presence of new technologies as well as negotiations and purchasing played a vital role during the exhibition, with every hall occupied right down to the last available square metre and not only, outdoors huge tents were visible dedicated to additional exhibitors eager to display their products here.
Every year, Sema hosts new exhibitors in a specially dedicated area, while the most important international companies, with their research and development divisions always looking at acquiring new market segments in the United States, displayed as always, new and innovative products in another dedicated area, which included as one would expect, awards and great visibility, a mainstay in all American events.  
 
The 2018 edition of the trade show boasted a new record-breaking number of companies offering new workshop solutions such as marketing, equipment servicing and much more. As the digital age is now a reality, compatibility between garage equipment and apps is no longer considered an "appealing feature", it is now a must. However, even though most of the companies present at Sema are making steady progress in this sense, none seem ready to tackle the mass-market. In short, let's say that at least for another year, none of the products or solutions on display could be defined as "game changers".
 
The southern area of the show-grounds hosted the "Global Tire Expo", and there Autopromotec took advantage of a dedicated area to promote its globalization project "Autopromotec Follow Me": as the 2019 edition of Autopromotec is gearing up to become the largest European automotive aftermarket trade show planned next year, with an increasingly international outlook (+14% of foreign visitors in the 2017 edition), the organizers engaged in a widespread promotion of the upcoming event. In addition, 5 small/medium-sized Italian manufacturers of automotive equipment and products were also present: Cattini Oleopneumatica, Filcar, Omer, Tecnel, Zeca.
A few additional Italian companies, whether directly or through their US subsidiaries, made their presence felt in the south hall, and partially also in the north hall, mainly occupied by bodywork equipment and automotive service, confirming their renowned innovative strength and leadership in the automotive aftermarket sector as a whole but especially in the field of garage equipment.
 
Speaking with Linda Spencer (Sema Senior Director, international and government affairs) and Lakisha Pindell (Tia - Tire industry association - director of meetings and advertising), their enthusiasm for a gratifying edition of the Sema Show became clear.
On a side note: a "do-it-yourself" trend has been observed among many consumers who think they can repair their cars with spare parts bought on Amazon and following YouTube video tutorials. In a dedicated seminar, significant data and figures were discussed highlighting that, while this could be the case for some components, such as chemicals components (78% of consumers use a DIY approach), lighting (69%) and interior components (65%), other activities seem to be less attractive for DIY enthusiasts. Only 21% of consumers want to deal with tires on their own, while Advanced Driver Assist systems are down to a mere 14%.
 
Record-breaking numbers also for Aapex, with over 50 thousand buyers, 25% of which from abroad, and over 2600 exhibitors from 43 countries besides the US (source: AAPEX media): the style resembles a large European event with a focus on components and lubricants. The Italian presence here was less significant while the prevailing discussions centred around free access to and control of vehicle data, which happens to be the most hotly debated issue in the entire aftermarket world.
In a meeting with Michael Barratt (Aca - Auto care association - senior vice president, meetings and events), it was confirmed that his association, co-owner of Aapex, is engaged in a daily battle in this sense, which happens also to be a battle in favour of consumers, a greater freedom of choice and fair competition. Mr. Barratt recalled that the automotive aftermarket industry in the US represents a business volume worth around $ 750 billion, therefore, any struggle made to guarantee and protect principles of free access to data must be highly valued.