The aftermarket is a wide open world for owners. It’s the chance to create a unique vehicle, to express oneself for better, or for worse. The Specialty Equipment Market Association, better known as SEMA, has released their annual report showing 2015 will be a huge year for aftermarket companies.
In 2014, consumers spent a collective $36 billion on aftermarket products, an eight percent growth over 2013. And there are no signs of that number dwindling in 2015. Specifically, the resurgence in the midsize, light-truck segment has fueled aftermarket sales. For General Motors, that may be attributed to the reintroduction of the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon.
GM is still having problems keeping up with demand for the two midsize trucks, and it seems many owners are taking their newly purchased trucks and immediately heading to the aftermarket scene. Particularly, off-road accessories and parts has risen eight percent.
Even though a substantial piece of profit is coming from light truck sales currently, street performance remains the largest category consumers are spending in. That means performance modifications for Corvettes, Camaros and more. And it should only grow with the introduction of the 2016 Chevy Camaro.
General Motors has been busy crafting their own strategy to keep more consumer spending inside of GM. A plethora of special edition trucks have been introduced for the Silverado, but more so for the Colorado. GM sees these special editions as a chance for customers to personalize their vehicles straight from the factory, passing up aftermarket companies.
With all of that news, it seems the 2015 SEMA show in Las Vegas will be a massive event, one which Chevrolet has also told us to keep an eye on concerning the 2016 Camaro. We’re expecting a slew of aftermarket support for the sixth-generation Camaro to be announced.
Comments
We are so far having a good year.
The new models are a limited factor as so few parts are out yet. They will factor in though in the future.
This is excellent news for GM and the aftermarket companies . They realize that there is a market out there that doesn’t consider a vehicle as a meare appliance to get from point A to B . There is something to be said for individualality. I happen to be one of those people . When you drive down the road , who wants to look like all the others ?
Well the whole key to this is to give access to these products early on as the part MFG can tool up with new product closer to the release.
Some times like on the first Gen 1 Camaro the companies got early access and it really helped sales of the Camaro. But that does not always happen. I hope GM has gotten these cars and trucks around early as if not it can take up to a year to bring a new product to the market for a new car.