Moving Violations: Why SEMA is more important than we know

[AF News Desk]

Moving Violations:
Why SEMA is more important than we know
While our dreams die slowly from uninspired design choices, SEMA offers respite for weary enthusiasts everywhere.

Jonathan Swigart - AutomotiveForums.com
Nov. 4, 2011

Many years ago, car manufacturers made it a point to have the most unique and engaging designs available – their way of appealing to the masses in order get people to buy their cars.

Sensational and often aggressive body lines, awesome accents and inspiring interiors provided reason after reason for us to fall in love with the automotive styling from what are now years gone by – and provide us even now with reasons to be collectors as well as enthusiasts.

But at some point between then and now, manufacturers began to lose sight of what enthusiasts and drivers alike were looking for and expecting from them. They began trying to be like “the other guys,” in an attempt to draw attention to their iterations of similar designs.

I’m not quite sure at what point this happened, but it seems to be the current state of the auto industry as I know it: Make a car like your nearest competitor so as not to lose ground in the race for superiority. What an ironic situation.

However, despite the auto industry killing our dreams with every copy-cat car that emerges from the factory doors, there is still one thing that serves as a saving grace: Aftermarket modification.

Some people believe aftermarket modification points primarily to engine modification, but that is only one portion of the equation.

The other portion comes in the form of owners, professional fabricators and even manufacturers themselves imparting special design modifications to the bodies and interiors of different models. What is one of the best places to see some of these designs? The annual Specialty Market Equipment Association Show, or SEMA.

SEMA, which wraps up its annual show today in Las Vegas, is an association of various figures of the automotive industry (fabricators, designers, manufacturers, etc.) who are interested in transforming boring and mundane into unique and exciting, primarily through exterior, interior and engine-based modification.

But that’s what they do for cars. What they do for enthusiasts is actually much more important.

It’s one thing to make a car more than just a car for enthusiasts everywhere. It’s another thing entirely to provide a sense of encouragement that yes, there ARE people interested in breaking the mold and giving you a glimpse of the prowess that otherwise boring vehicles can possess – even with manufacturer made kits.

In a time when each car looks just like the one before it (and usually is, with a different badge), enthusiasts need all the help they can get to not be sucked into the trap of accepting what's put in front of them. Because that is exactly what we have done year after year: We've accepted poor design for the sake of slightly better gas mileage and a couple of cool knick-knacks added to the interior in exchange for our own vision of what unique should be.

In a word, the exhibits at SEMA give enthusiasts hope. Hope that manufacturers will see the feedback from the show as a message, asking for more out of the vehicles that are being put before us at dealerships. Hope that they will take a chance on the next design they're thinking about putting out. Hope that there will be less disparity between the a concept rendering and the finished product. Hope for more.

While it’s unfortunate that we find ourselves in a place requiring us to look to a specialty association for innovative designs, I would rather have a single, constant reminder than nothing at all. And if that means looking to SEMA every year for a reminder of what it's like to see unique and innovative styling, then so be it.

My only fear is that eventually, SEMA will become like every other show out there: A world of wild imagination and conceptualization with no substance; empty promises, save for super cars that most people will never own.

Fortunately, I don't see that happening. Not yet, anyway. And hopefully, not at all.

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Jonathan Swigart is an award-winning journalist and has been around the automotive world his entire life. "Moving Violations" will explore some of the basic aspects of driving that drivers often overlook, among other topics related to driving and the auto industry. He lives in Champaign, Illinois with his wife and son and works at the University of Illinois.

You can reach Jonathan by emailing newsdesk@automotiveforums.com

[RidingOnRailz]

I think a lot of the emphasis now is on function function function. A jelly bean cuts through the air better than a brick. International standardization of illumination elements on vehicles, along with standardization of cabin controls(windows, locks, turn signal levers, radio and climate knobs). Even where components are under the hood and behind the dash - the breaker panel is behind the driver's side of the dash.

It's getting harder for mfgs to make their cars stand out - except for Lincoln. LMAO.. some of the ugliest cars and weirdest names i've seen in the last 10 years. "MKZ", MKX. What happened to Town Car. Mark V, Mark VI, Continental?? Those cars had grace and style!

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by lee21don

SEMA, which wraps up its annual show today in Las Vegas, is an association of various figures of the automotive industry (fabricators, designers, manufacturers, etc.) who are interested in transforming boring and mundane into unique and exciting, primarily through exterior, interior and engine-based modification.

But that’s what they do for cars. What they do for enthusiasts is actually much more important.

It’s one thing to make a car more than just a car for enthusiasts everywhere. It’s another thing entirely to provide a sense of encouragement that yes, there ARE people interested in breaking the mold and giving you a glimpse of the prowess that otherwise boring vehicles can possess – even with manufacturer made kits.

Nothing wrong with what SEMA is doing. But if auto mfgs truly lived out the American(or Japanese or Korean or German) entreprenuerial dream and created really radical unique identities for their offerings, SEMA might not have existed!

Look at cars like the Soul and the Rogue. People buy them because they're funky, even weird. But they are different, but still perform the basic role of transportation while sticking out doing it.