LAS VEGAS—With over 2,400 exhibiting manufactures across the entire automotive industry, as well as around 175,000 attendees and 70,000 buyers, you can pretty much see every kind of machine out there on four wheels during the Specialty Equipment Market Association event inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Sure, sure, the products are the real draw with respective manufacturers hoping to draw in buyers and land deals for the next best product of 2020.
But said products need to be displayed, and while some choose to put their wares on pegboards or some other form of simple presentation, most build, create and roll out vehicles that show off all kinds of products in a fully-functional environment.
These vehicles run the gamut from small, medium and large in a kind of Goldilocks fit where less is not always more—and more is not necessarily less. It is also not uncommon for these manufactures to spend months, if not an entire calendar year, planning and building their SEMA vehicles as every bit of booth space counts so each build needs to be the perfect size.
Just like Goldilocks says.
Splattered across the upper and lower South Halls of the convention center sit nearly all of the SEMA 2019 off-road selections, which for the most part means Jeeps.
Plenty of Jeeps.
And like you may already know, Gladiators seemed to be the thing dominating most vendor display areas this year. Which should be expected because it is the latest and greatest Jeep creation. These builds offered potential product buyers excellent looks at numerous items from step bars to rear bumpers, tents, roof racks, bed racks, lift kits, as well as wheels, tires and a laundry list of other accessories. More importantly, for you, they give a good look at all the things you can do with your Gladiator.
But Gladiators were not the entirety of SEMA for the off-road world. After digging a bit deeper, some manufacturers also set up Wrangler JL and JK builds, as well as a handful of CJs and even a beautiful FC, Willys Truck, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.
So, while Gladiator may have held the majority this year, those in the industry certainly did not forget about the other Jeep lines.
These are some of the SEMA 2019 vehicles we encountered during our time inside the Las Vegas Convention Center.
—Matt Konkle
Quadratec Channel Editor
