No SEMA no mo'
"Well, this sucks!"
Penguin from the movie Madagascar as he stood in the desolate Arctic landscape.
Last year I had a so-so experience at SEMA, not too fun, but it was something I felt was important to cover and, hey, it is a day off work. So, it was with a bit of reservations that I filled up the 40 gallon tank of the S.S. Suburban and pointed it towards Vegas at about 03:30 in the morning.
After 90 minutes at SEMA in the SUV and Truck hall, which is where the core of 4WD related stuff always is, I realized we were nearly done walking it. 90 minutes! Usually I am barely able to cover that one hall in 4 hours. You could have rolled a bowling ball down the hallways on Thursday and hardly hit anyone. Wondering if the economy is affecting 4x4s and buying habits? Here ya go.
In fact, I wonder if I even have enough pics for an article. I think I will just blog about a few things I saw and spin off a tech article or two. I was speaking to one industry person who said vendor attendance was off 35%. One suspension manufacturer had a single truck, barely lifted, and about 6 catalogs in the booth sitting next to bare carpet and two chairs. Hmmm. I guess that when you are barely paying your bills, a $50K truck with a $10K lift and tires is a bit, ahhh...irrelevant to most folks out there. In fact, on the way home MC and I were making a list of all the companies that were not there. It was a big list.
Something else that I was thinking about as well: With a lot of folks hurting financially, losing houses, jobs and hope, I could not help but feel a bit disgusted as I walked by the dozens of multi-multi thousand dollar trucks with chromed and airbrushed everything, the booth after booth of wheel makers with the wanna' be Dubs and $250,000 Mercedes/Rolls/Caddy/Maserati whatever pimp-my-rides. Vanity.
So this will very likely be my last SEMA show. It will be interesting to see who can ride out the storm we are in and actually be there next year as a company, but that would be kinda goulish to go just for that.
And, there is the Off Road Expo that really is affordable for the small guy, and frankly, is a lot more fun to attend.
I don't think that the Jeep as a fun family adventure vehicle is a goner. It may be used less or modified a bit less, but it is not gonna go away. On the other hand, I frankly have been ignoring the competitive aspect of rockcrawling, etc, but I have to wonder if it is waning a bit. Perhaps this is a bit of a sifting and refining process for the American consumer. I am a capitalist by nature, so if you want to start the 150th ghetto wagon wheel company, more power to ya. But really, do we need it?
This whole Jeeping thing began with old Army Jeeps and has progressed to multi million dollar semi rigs and huge advertising budgets. We have all benefited from the technology and improvements that has come from that growth, but if it all comes down to you, me, and an old army Jeep, it will still be wheelin'.
Penguin from the movie Madagascar as he stood in the desolate Arctic landscape.
Last year I had a so-so experience at SEMA, not too fun, but it was something I felt was important to cover and, hey, it is a day off work. So, it was with a bit of reservations that I filled up the 40 gallon tank of the S.S. Suburban and pointed it towards Vegas at about 03:30 in the morning.
After 90 minutes at SEMA in the SUV and Truck hall, which is where the core of 4WD related stuff always is, I realized we were nearly done walking it. 90 minutes! Usually I am barely able to cover that one hall in 4 hours. You could have rolled a bowling ball down the hallways on Thursday and hardly hit anyone. Wondering if the economy is affecting 4x4s and buying habits? Here ya go.
In fact, I wonder if I even have enough pics for an article. I think I will just blog about a few things I saw and spin off a tech article or two. I was speaking to one industry person who said vendor attendance was off 35%. One suspension manufacturer had a single truck, barely lifted, and about 6 catalogs in the booth sitting next to bare carpet and two chairs. Hmmm. I guess that when you are barely paying your bills, a $50K truck with a $10K lift and tires is a bit, ahhh...irrelevant to most folks out there. In fact, on the way home MC and I were making a list of all the companies that were not there. It was a big list.
Something else that I was thinking about as well: With a lot of folks hurting financially, losing houses, jobs and hope, I could not help but feel a bit disgusted as I walked by the dozens of multi-multi thousand dollar trucks with chromed and airbrushed everything, the booth after booth of wheel makers with the wanna' be Dubs and $250,000 Mercedes/Rolls/Caddy/Maserati whatever pimp-my-rides. Vanity.
So this will very likely be my last SEMA show. It will be interesting to see who can ride out the storm we are in and actually be there next year as a company, but that would be kinda goulish to go just for that.
And, there is the Off Road Expo that really is affordable for the small guy, and frankly, is a lot more fun to attend.
I don't think that the Jeep as a fun family adventure vehicle is a goner. It may be used less or modified a bit less, but it is not gonna go away. On the other hand, I frankly have been ignoring the competitive aspect of rockcrawling, etc, but I have to wonder if it is waning a bit. Perhaps this is a bit of a sifting and refining process for the American consumer. I am a capitalist by nature, so if you want to start the 150th ghetto wagon wheel company, more power to ya. But really, do we need it?
This whole Jeeping thing began with old Army Jeeps and has progressed to multi million dollar semi rigs and huge advertising budgets. We have all benefited from the technology and improvements that has come from that growth, but if it all comes down to you, me, and an old army Jeep, it will still be wheelin'.
posted by grannygear at 9:34 AM
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