Nichola Beckford/Contributor 

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show closed last Friday (November 4) to much success and fanfare.

The closing event, SEMA Ignited, moved the static displays in the Las Vegas Convention Centre onto the streets of Las Vegas.

Mixed in with the adrenalin and exhaust fumes was the announcement that the SEMA Show in 2023 would be an even bigger spectacle than it currently is.

SEMA 2023 will mark the beginning of a five-year plan to expand the show into an all-city experience to last the entire week of its staging, earning it the new moniker, SEMA Week.

“We have been watching the connection between enthusiasts and our industry grow for more than a decade and, as the industry’s trade association, have a responsibility to help facilitate that connection in new and meaningful ways. By creating SEMA Week and SEMA Fest, we will be able to maintain the integrity of the trade show that makes it a must-attend event for automotive professionals while introducing a new platform for enthusiasts and the industry to engage with one another,” said James Lawrence, chairman of the board of SEMA.

The SEMA Show will remain the main attraction and trade-only, but will now run for the entire week, Monday through Friday. On Friday afternoon, when the event would close, SEMA Ignited will now be modified. The Friday Experience will allow a limited number of enthusiasts onto the convention centre grounds. Beyond that is the all-new SEMA Fest. Also on the Friday, SEMA will take over the Las Vegas Festival Grounds into the Saturday night. The more relaxed atmosphere of the new venue is open to the public as well and feature music, entertainment, a car show and cruise, VIP experiences, craft food, automotive celebrities, and motorsports.

“For 2023, SEMA Fest will take place at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds and be open to everyone, bringing together automotive enthusiasts with the aftermarket industry in a high-octane and immersive festival-like celebration of car culture,” said Lawrence.

Along with Friday Experience and SEMA Fest for 2023, SEMA Auction is scheduled to join SEMA Week.

The auction is planned to feature some of the best builds from the show, and headliners to boot.

“SEMA will continue to expand and refine SEMA Week over the next five years, rolling out new events and activities throughout the city of Las Vegas.”

Lawrence hopes that the new format preserves the trade aspects of the industry and business components of SEMA, while giving access to new enthusiasts from all around to partake in the SEMA festivities to enjoy car culture-focused events.

In its more than half-decade of existence, the SEMA Show had never been cancelled, until 2020, a victim of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The show returned in 2021 boasting expansion amid challenging circumstances. Its second year post COVID, SEMA has recovered, being 30 per cent larger this year.

“The show is at the epicentre of the tremendous changes and energy the industry is experiencing right now. We’re going to be the number-one marketplace where innovation, trends and trailblazers meet, and the best place for attendees to see and grasp it all as they position themselves for the future,” said Tom Gattuso, vice president of events, SEMA.

Gattuso attributed the increase, ironically, to the COVID disruption, explaining that there are many attendees who haven’t been to a SEMA Show since 2019, as well as a large number new to the industry -persons who would be making 2022 their first SEMA.

“In some ways, things are starting to normalise. In other ways, there’s an explosion of ideas and a revolution in how word spreads globally to consumer enthusiasts about our industry’s products. Buyers and retailers are becoming increasingly key to that paradigm. Consumers look to them now more than ever for knowledge and information about what’s trending,” he explained.