Big Names Coming to Specialty Show

Toyota will use the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas this week to introduce the 2009 Corolla and Matrix, while Chevy will have a new Cobalt SS that goes on sale in the second quarter of next year as well as an HHR Panel SS that goes on sale for the 2009 model year — vehicles aimed at the youth and, especially, the tuner markets.

Most new vehicles are unveiled on the major auto show circuit — Detroit, L.A., Chicago and New York — each year to determine public reaction, but the annual SEMA industry trade show will also play a role in attracting the attention of consumers — especially the youth market.

SEMA has always been the place where those who make and sell performance and dress-up parts, components and accessories to customize cars have chosen to display their latest wares.

“The target audience for these vehicles is youth, and the show is about suppliers who sell the parts and accessories that the younger audience uses to customize these vehicles,” said Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich. “To attract a younger market you have to focus on the sound systems, electronic gadgets, suspensions and accessory packages that individualize cars. Youth gravitate to cars that offer accessories they can use to personalize their cars. They customize their iPods, cell phones and computers and want to do the same with their cars.”

The majority of Corolla and Matrix buyers don’t customize their cars, but are influenced as to which car to buy based on which cars are favored by the trendsetters who do dress up their machines.

Another reason Toyota is using SEMA rather than the Los Angeles or Detroit auto shows to unveil the next-generation Corolla and Matrix, which goes on sale in January, is that it would be invisible alongside the flashier Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger or even the Smart ForTwo that will bow at the major auto shows this year.

Even though the Corolla sells more than 300,000 units annually, “it could get lost in the crowd at the big shows but be the star at SEMA, where any buzz it creates gives people reason to check it out at the regular auto shows,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst with Global Insight.

One vehicle will be at SEMA to get the reaction of older folks, not kids: a concept Dodge BFT (Built for Towing) that features a 6.7-liter Cummins turbo-diesel V-8 potent enough to tow any boat, even the Queen Mary. Under all the bling, though, the feature being evaluated is its customized 10-foot bed— large enough to hold a motorcycle — with the metal from a Ram Mega Cab’s doors used to add 2 feet in length to the normal 8-foot bed.

Dodge officials hint that while a 10-foot bed poses problems in fitting not only in garages, but within parking lot boundaries, “it shows that if someone should want it, we can build it.”

Though far-fetched and not a high-volume item, Merkle says “if it gives the person thinking about a Ford or Chevy pickup reason to buy a Dodge instead, it would be worth it.”

*Editor’s Note: KickingTires will cover all the official production cars announced at SEMA this week, so stay tuned.