Top 5 Trends of the 2014 SEMA Show

The annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas is the mecca for automotive enthusiasts, but it’s not all about hot cars and girls.

As a trade show, it serves as a conduit for conducting business in the automotive aftermarket. It also offers a preview of coming automotive market trends that manufacturers use to gauge consumer interest. While there are plenty of products that debut on vehicles and in displays, it’s also a unique opportunity to see what companies think of the current industry and where it’s headed.

AutoGuide.com had the opportunity to sit down with several companies that specialize in the automotive aftermarket industry and here’s five takeaways from this year’s show.

A couple of years ago, Rocket Bunny made a splash at SEMA with the Scion FR-S while Rauh-Welt Begriff (RWB) Porsches captured the hearts of many enthusiasts. At this year’s SEMA Show, there weren’t very many vehicles that avoided the widebody and overfender craze.

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Rocket Bunny has expanded its lineup and its widebodies could be found on a range of models including the new Lexus RC and even the older FD3S RX-7. Even Liberty Walk has added its touch to other exotic models such as the Lamborghini Aventador, while a Volkswagen Beetle got the RWB treatment this year. There were very few booths at this year’s SEMA Show that didn’t showcase a single vehicle with a custom widebody or overfenders, ranging from the Honda Fit to the Ford Expedition, Hyundai Sonata to the Toyota Yaris.

As a sharp contrast to all the wild compacts and custom exotics flooding the Las Vegas Convention Center this year, another trend that was clear is how mainstream off-road is getting. In the past, off-roaders related strictly to the Jeep brand, but that’s hardly the case today.

Lifted trucks and custom off-road builds were plentiful at this year’s SEMA Show with several tire manufacturers showcasing their Ultra 4 race vehicles. With the growing popularity of events such as King of Hammers, tire manufacturers are catching on that in order to stay relevant, they’ll need to have at least one or two products that support off-road competition vehicles. Even Toyota is returning to the Baja 1000 while it wouldn’t be a surprise if more enthusiasts made an appearance at next year’s Moab Easter Jeep Safari.

While widebody builds are cool to look at, wheel manufacturers mentioned how impractical they really are from a business perspective. Most of the widebody vehicles are built for show and while some are built for the street, they aren’t plentiful. Extremely wide wheels aren’t something that most stores.

Tire manufacturers on the other hand are focusing on expanding their size offerings rather than their product lineups in order to keep up with stock vehicles that come with staggered tires or even wide applications. The Camaro ZL1 can be fitted with 305 wide tires from the factory, a size that hasn’t historically been popular.

It’s not hard to see that sport compact drag racing isn’t as popular as it was a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean drag racing is dying.

In fact, American automakers are embracing the sport as a true testament to the performance of their vehicles with Chevrolet continuing its COPO Camaro and Ford unveiling a King Cobra kit for its 2015 Mustang that will convert the sports car to a drag strip dominator.

Even Chrysler’s centerpiece for its booth this year was a 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car as the company seeks to solidify itself as a true performance brand heading into 2015, especially with its Hellcat models. And how can we forget the Toyota Camry dragster? The Japanese automaker said that the Camry dragster won’t just be for show. It plans on bringing it to several NHRA events to give the spectators a huge surprise heading to the line looking like a stock mundane family cruiser before it tears off a nine-second pass.

Look, if there was anything this year’s SEMA Show proved, it’s that anything and everything can be modified. Tying everything together as a perfect example is this Mercedes Metris van that has been built by long-time Mercedes tuner, Renntech.

It sports a widebody conversion with aggressive front and rear bumpers, but also shows off the versatility of the van as a massive mobile DJ station. And that was hardly the strangest creation on the show floor, especially with Kia on hand converting its Sedona minivan to distribute much-needed beer to showgoers.

The 2015 Honda Fit might be the Japanese automaker’s affordable compact that offers versatility and space at an affordable price, but with nine customized ones sitting in their booth ranging from mild to wild, we have a feeling that there will be plenty more getting modified in the near future.

In fact, the Fit was named this year’s Hottest Sport Compact at the 2014 SEMA Show. One thing is certain; as long as there are cars on the road, there are people looking to make them badder, faster and louder.