Tabla de contenidos para February 2024 en SEMA Magazine

It’s been said that for every challenge confronting the aftermarket, there’s a solution just waiting to be found. For Bill Cardoso, CEO of Scorpion EV, the initial challenge started with his son, who, he explained in a 2022 interview with Street Muscle Magazine, is “on the autism spectrum and averse to loud noises.” Cardoso, a car lover who holds a PhD in engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago, took advantage of “all the time I had on my hands during the pandemic” to craft an elegant solution: The Scorpion 600, a 600hp Tesla-powered Factory Five Shelby Cobra replica that earned rave reviews for the fledgling company at the 2022 SEMA Show. (Scorpion makes a 1,000hp version, too.) Not content…

STATE UPDATE California—Proposition 65: The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed new SEMA-opposed Proposition 65 shortform warning rules. The proposed rules would require all short-form warnings to include at least one chemical on the label. This is a significant change from the current regulations, which allow businesses to use a generic short-form warning that does not identify any specific chemicals. The business community worked with OEHHA for several years to develop the current regulations that took effect in 2018. Companies subsequently invested significant resources in updating product labels, websites, and catalogs, and instructing others in the product chain about their obligations. Changes to the short-form warning would negate those efforts for many companies. Massachusetts—Antique Vehicles: Lawmakers in Massachusetts introduced SEMA-supported legislation that would remove driving restrictions…

Every new year offers an opportunity to reflect on recent challenges and achievements and chart a future course. With the first quarter of 2024 well underway, SEMA magazine again turns to association council and network leaders for their takes on the market trends and issues impacting key industry categories, along with their expectations for the next 11 months. SEMA councils and networks are on the cutting edge of the latest changes and best business practices sweeping their aftermarket segments. These volunteer organizations also play a major role in shaping and growing their respective industries for the benefit of all. Moreover, they provide networking opportunities that can enhance personal, professional and business growth. To learn more about SEMA councils and networks, attend their events, or become an active volunteer member, visit…

The direction of automotive propulsion is a hot-button issue for many in the aftermarket. Traditionally, a culture of internal-combustion engine (ICE) performance pervades the industry. Even appearance modifications often take their cues from ICE vehicles whose throaty roars remain synonymous with speed and prowess. But recent pushes toward battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and other “decarbonizing” technologies are upsetting that long-established equilibrium, which makes for some heated discussions. “SEMA VIEWS THE SPECIALTY AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AS A PRIME LABORATORY FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. LET THE INDUSTRY DO WHAT IT HAS ALWAYS DONE BEST, AND SEE THE INGENUITY THAT RESULTS.” Officially, SEMA opposes one-size-fits-all mandates to eliminate emissions through any single technology. The association believes that cleaner ICE engines along with BEVs, hybrids, hydrogen and CNG, and other alternative fuels and innovations all have…

SEMA launched its first-ever SuperPAC this past fall to support legislative candidates who would back the repeal of Virginia’s internal-combustion engine (ICE) ban. Debuting as Driving Force Action (DFA), the SuperPAC focused its efforts on helping Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia to secure a needed majority in the November elections to accomplish one of his campaign priorities—repealing the ICE ban. While the Governor’s party fell short of capturing the necessary number of seats to get that majority, DFA succeeded in three of the four senate races where it engaged in direct candidate advocacy. Why Virginia? While most of America chooses its state lawmakers and governors in the same year that they elect their federal lawmakers (evennumbered years), there are a handful of states that elect their lawmakers in odd-numbered years,…

SEMA’s annual New Product Awards recognize outstanding achievements in the development of products being introduced to the automotive specialty-equipment market at the SEMA Show. More than 1,300 products were entered across 18 different New Products Showcase categories for consideration by a panel of industry-expert judges. Winners were selected based on a variety of factors that included superiority of innovation, technical achievement, quality and workmanship, consumer appeal and marketability, and more. What follows are the judges’ choices for 2023 honors. CATEGORY: ADVANCE DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEM (ADAS) WINNER: HUNTER ENGINEERING, ULTIMATE ADAS Ultimate ADAS was selected by a panel of judges as the Best New Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Product for 2024, “in recognition of outstanding and innovative design achievement in a newly introduced product for the automotive aftermarket in the…

Once dismissed as mere child’s play, simulators have been an integral part of driver development in top-tier racing series like NASCAR and Formula 1 (F1) for a number of years now. While the systems used at this level of motorsports are often highly customized, multi-milliondollar setups, the simulation technology that’s now available to the general public is reaching a degree of sophistication that isn’t far behind. “It’s a lot like the trickledown effect of F1 race car technology into the production cars that will be on the road a few years down the line,” says Nikolas Dubois of Advanced SimRacing in Anjou, Quebec, Canada. “Use of simulators by racing teams really started to ramp up 15 years ago or so, and now we’re seeing a lot of the technology that…

In its December 1955 issue, Hot Rod magazine told readers, “Drag racing isn’t new to the Memphis area—they’ve been running top-notch drag meets there for years.” Which is why the NHRA put the southern city on its itinerary for the 1955 Drag Safari. Nearly 40 years later, drag racing in Memphis was again featured in Hot Rod, this time as the venue for the first Fastest Street Car in America Shootout. The cars at that event represented an evolution of the sport that likely would have been unimaginable to those racing in 1955. The Drag Safari was the brainchild of NHRA founder and Hot Rod Editor Wally Parks. He put in motion what became a coastto-coast master class in staging safe and efficient drag-race meets. For three years starting in…