by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor
LAS VEGAS — The headline screams out in 24-point bold: What’s New for the 2023 SEMA Show? Quite a Lot.
While long-time participants Stellantis and Chevy/GMC didn’t make it to the train station for this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) ride, and Ford only in a reduced role, one spin through the event’s New Product showcase revealed one thing.
There is definitely quite a lot of new.
Additionally, the event itself freshened up a bunch of stuff too, including a different spot for its Overlanding Experience, a revamped area for its Art Walk, as well an entirely new entertainment entity known as SEMA-Fest set for Friday during the show week.
"No two SEMA Shows are ever alike," said SEMA Trade Show Director Andy Tompkins. "Every year is a new year, filled with new opportunities, new exhibitors and new concepts. There are new products, new advancements, new launches and new brands that have never been part of the Show before. Even our returning exhibitors never sit still. Our marketplace is exciting and dynamic, and the SEMA Show embodies it all."
For those interested in the parts and accessory end of things, SEMA’s New Products Showcase is usually the first stop once the event’s doors open Tuesday morning. And that’s where we headed as well.
Over the past several years, this meant trekking to the back end of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Upper South Hall. But this year, now the third including West Hall, SEMA decided to move that showcase to more of a middle-ground location in North Hall.
The format remained the same, with rows upon rows of first-time parts — some physically there and others pictured — showing off what enthusiasts can expect to see over the coming months.
For Jeep owners, this included plenty of things just off manufacturers' engineering/design table. Lighting really caught our eye this year and was well-represented by ARB, Oracle and Rigid.
ARB revealed Nacho Quatro LED lighting solutions that offer spot, flood and a spot/flood combo light pods featuring, among other things, a removable/replaceable housing, efficient Forced Induction airflow channeling, Trail Running Light option and superior vibration/impact resistance. The Nacho Quatro combo also took home a win in SEMA’s Best New Powersports Product division during Tuesday morning's annual awards ceremony.
Oracle showed off its affordable VEGA series LED light pods spotlights with powerful OSRAM LED chips, superior durability and an intense lighting output from a more compact three-inch design.
Rigid displayed its new Adapt XP Amber Pro light with an internal GPS system that controls the light pattern depending on voltage and vehicle speed. Additionally, the brand included its 360-Series 9-inch lamp in spot or driving beam patterns that has selectable color backlighting, and can sync with other Rigid backlit lamps. Its 360-Series Laser light includes a Kyocera laser diode for peak beam intensity exceeding one million candelas despite its compact size.
While lighting stood out for us, several other new items like the Bestop Ascent slant back soft top with removable windows, Eaton’s 35-spline ELocker, and Rotopax and recovery board mounts from Sea Sucker.
We’ll have a more in-depth look at some of these parts in an upcoming top SEMA products article.
Now, not all exhibitors put up products into the showcase. And we heard some great things about new audio kits for Wrangler and Gladiator from Rockford Fosgate.
And they did not disappoint.
These kits feature pretty much an entire revamp of each vehicle’s speaker system and sound bar, as they include two 6.5-inch front speakers, two 1-inch tweeters, a pair of overhead 6.5-inch speakers inside an entirely new soundbar, two rear 12-inch subwoofers, factory tuned DSP, an 800- and 1000-amp, both factory-tuned, a bass level control, complete wiring kit and 12-volt relocation kit. The Gladiator edition is slightly different with two 10-inch rear subwoofers.
All pieces are factory fit and finished and designed to withstand all kinds of weather environments.
"It's where sound meets adventure, the new Jeep Audio Systems are the natural evolution in our ‘everything in the box’ systems approach, a concept that will deliver us into the future of mobile audio,” said Zach Luke, Rockford Fosgate’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We have decades of experience in curating the Rockford Fosgate sonic signature and the Wrangler and Gladiator Jeep systems deliver just that — an experience.”
One of our final stops Tuesday was to Katzkin’s booth in the West Hall to see its JL Jurassic Park build that included a front face modeled like the Quadratec YJL front grille.
Unofficial Use Only owner Greg Henderson created this front JL grille design but fabricated new square light bucket openings on each side resembling those of the YJ models from back in the late 1980s, and early 90s.
And over the past few years, there were plenty of people asking if this grille would ever become available for purchase.
Well, Henderson announced at SEMA that he received approval from Jeep and will soon offer this YJ-style grille for Wrangler JL and JT models.
New products may make up a lot of SEMA attendee interest, but the theme also extends out to other areas as the show for 2023.
The organization has updated its industry education program and is offering almost 100 seminars this year to help members in such categories as electrification, consumer relations, marketing, trends, emerging technologies, social media, state of the industry and numerous other ones as well.
Additionally, SEMA created an Overland Experience area a few years ago to display tons of accessories specifically designed for overlanding, as well as show off those products on vehicles owned by overlanders. This year, the organization moved that experience from inside the West Hall to a new, more expansive spot outside of the hall so exhibitors could better display their overlanding rigs and experiences. It also helped provide plenty of space for audiences to enjoy forums and overlanding panels throughout the day.
SEMA also found a new spot for another interesting attraction — the Art Walk. The display features plenty of interesting artwork from automotive personalities like Chip Foose, Max Grundy and others, and is now located in the North Hall between Business Services and Mobile Electronics. A bit more traffic in this area means more people will now be able to see and enjoy this experience.
Finally, SEMA Fest is an entirely new addition that involves a two-day (Friday and Saturday) music show, consumer automotive marketplace, drifting displays, off-road demos and several other experiences taking place at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds near the West Hall. SEMA Fest is set to include 23 artists including Third Eye Blind, Imagine Dragons, Incubus, AGR, Bush and Walk the Moon.
Formally known as SEMA Ignited, organizers decided this year to expand the ending of SEMA week to give consumers more of a chance to participate and enjoy some high-end entertainment.
“We are excited to open the gates for the inaugural SEMA Fest and welcome car and music lovers alike to enjoy this one-of-a-kind festival,” said Mike Spagnola, SEMA president and CEO. “Automotive enthusiasts the world over have been asking for years how they can be part of the SEMA Show experience, and we are delighted to include them in this brand-new extension of our popular trade show. This new event will be separate from the trade show, open to everyone and promises to be like nothing they’ve seen before.”
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