Las Vegas manufacturers hope to grab attention of 70K buyers at SEMA show

The world of car customization has come to Las Vegas, and Southern Nevada manufacturers that service that industry are counting on a big week to boost their sales.

That’s the importance of the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which runs through Friday. Some 70,000 buyers from more than 100 countries are walking the convention halls, and local manufacturers like Erickson International, EBC Brakes and Dynojet are hoping to attract their attention.

“We could easily get 20 to 25 percent of our leads for the year,” said Erickson International President Michael Martin, whose company makes film branded as American Standard Window Film. “This is a big show for the year and draws worldwide customers. You want the big fish. You aren’t looking for someone who buys a roll a week, but someone who’s going to buy a container.”

That distinction of drawing customers from across the world is important to Erickson, which has more than $20 million a year in sales, of which 50 percent are abroad. The company has customers in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

“The European and Asian market demands high-quality film, and China views American-made products No. 1,” Martin said. “They will buy American film before Korean and Chinese film.”

While Erickson has the window film market covered for Las Vegas, EBC Brakes is focused on the motorcycle and automotive high-performance market. The Britain-headquartered company is a newcomer to Las Vegas, having relocated from Los Angeles in 2013. It now employs 46 people in its light-manufacturing and warehouse-distribution operation in Nevada. Its main manufacturing hubs are in Ohio and England.

“We needed a larger warehouse and couldn’t find one in Los Angeles. And we found one in Vegas and it’s better value, and the utilities are cheaper,” said EBC Brakes CEO James Hallett.

The company, which recorded double-digit growth in sales this year, sells to AutoZone, Pep Boys and online sources such as Summit Racing Equipment, Hallett said. The high-end brakes are for seekers of better performance for such vehicles as trucks, tow trucks, motorcycles and racing machines.

EBC has attended SEMA since 1999, and it’s important as one of the top two shows in the world, said Hallett, whose company has stickers depicting the British Union Jack and the American flag.

“It’s a great place to show our new products and gives us a chance to meet with our biggest customers instead of traveling around the U.S. to see them,” Hallett said.

Up to 160,000 people are coming to Las Vegas to attend SEMA, and many of those are performance shop owners looking to add the latest technology for upgrading cars, trucks and motorcycles.

That’s what Dynojet counts on, with more than 25 percent of its $20 million-plus in yearly sales attributed to SEMA, said sales and marketing manager Will Fong.

Dynojet, which has more than 30 employees in Las Vegas, manufactures in both Southern Nevada and Montana. Its main product is a chassis dynamometer sold to performance shops, dealers and aftermarket resellers. The device measures horsepower and torque and does other diagnostics to show a vehicle’s drivability and performances during upgrades, especially for racing enthusiasts.

“We sell to shops that cater to customers who want high-performing vehicles,” Fong said. “It’s 70 percent in the U.S. and the remainder in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East. Most of the people who come to the show are more serious and have a shop.”

Erickson, which started production in 2009 and has 50 employees in Las Vegas, is one of six national film manufacturers, Martin said. The company’s focus at this year’s SEMA show is on high-performance films that reject heat.

“The old-school dark tint for your car that just provided privacy is kind of passe,” Martin said. “The new movement has the privacy tint but a heat protection component that’s functional so your car is cooler.”

Despite the importance of SEMA, Martin said the company has more uses for its film than automotive. It’s used for commercial windows, and he said he hopes the use of the film is expanded to an untapped market for homes, where it can reduce energy costs by 30 percent a year and pay for itself within three years.

This week, however, the focus is on the automotive market for a company whose sales have increased 10 to 15 percent this year. Car dealers buy the tints to upgrade vehicles for new owners, and shops buy them to meet customer demand.

“Our market is the 18- to 30-year-old who puts most of his disposable income into his car,” Martin said.

That sums up what drives much of SEMA and the industry: young people and their cars, trucks and SUVs and the willingness to enhance their vehicle’s look as well as its performance.

And Las Vegas companies are capitalizing on that demand.

“Our end of the industry is discretionary dollars and products (that), after you buy them, you rush home and show your friends: a new set of wheels or the body kit or cold-air intake,” said Peter MacGillivray, vice president of events and communications for SEMA. “You’re excited to show them. We have been an industry that has targeted young men who want to hot-rod their cars, but it’s changing and there are more women getting involved, too.”