Las Vegas Hosts Another Successful SEMA

Las Vegas starts out November by hosting SEMA, the biggest car convention in the world. It is not only the coolest car meet ever, but also the best convention to connect manufacturers with buyer companies who are looking for the hottest products to sell in their shop.

It is held in the Las Vegas convention center and is visited by more than 160,000 people including 71,000 buyer companies, 3,300 media representatives, and 2,400 exhibiting companies. It was a week long during the first week of November.

Around the outside of the convention center, thousands of the best looking cars are displayed. The cars with the most attention are always the craziest, most unimaginable builds. You will find things like a Batmobile golf cart, all the way to “Fast and Furious” recreations. A lot of new 2022 cars are showcased with crazy body kits and thousands of dollars worth of modifications. There are also many shows including drift and burnout demos with professional drivers pulling off incredible stunts. It is a treat to watch them, but arguably better than a roller coaster, the drift ride-alongs are the true highlight for any car enthusiast.

Though the outside alone is beyond any car meet, the inside is an even more breathtaking experience with a labyrinth of booths showcasing companies with everything from turbos all the way to car floor mats. If your company had anything to do with automotive, you were at SEMA. There are so many booths you aren’t able to see everything in a day or two. There is a reason SEMA is a week long. Crazy new technology is demonstrated including things like self healing paint, unpoppable tires, and wrap so strong you couldn’t put a scratch in it. Car simulators that are so realistic that you can drive on a track that is actually in the real world, and feel every bump or crack that is actually on the track. Many of the booths have hands-on workshops like wrapping or ceramic coating. Influencers from every social media have featured cars as well as meet and greets.

In SEMA you are surrounded by so many insane car builds that you don’t even notice a stock lamborghini. Cars that would turn heads on the road are overlooked by enthusiasts who are more impressed with things like a small truck with a Ferrari engine.

One of the cars with the most attention was a Mazda Rx7 built by youtuber Rob Dahm. Although the JDM legend of a car would already grab peoples attention, this Rx7 was different as he had put in a turbo charged 4 rotor Wankel engine as well as converted it to AWD. The reason why this is impressive is unlike the normal 3 rotor engine, the 4 rotor is not even factory made. Dahm had to custom make everything for the motor and it can be very hard to work on. However if built right can be very fast and has the ability to rev up higher than most engines at over 10,000 rpm. The all wheel drive was also a very impressive conversion as it is impossible to fit the drivetrain in a Rx7 and Dahm was forced to extend the whole front of the car 8 in as well as make it overall wider by 10 in. Dahm has been working on the car for over 6 years and has experienced many trials and errors. He showcased the most complete the car has been but still plans to add more. This is just one of the many examples of the amount of work that goes into the cars showcased at SEMA.

The SEMA show has been going on for years and gets bigger and crazier every year. The first show started in 1967 with around 98 booths and around 3,000 attendees. Since then it has grown into the biggest premier automotive trade show in the world. SEMA offers members research, training, group-buying discounts, networking events and more.