Who Says America’s Ended its Love Affair With the Automobile?

***This story first appeared on TheCarCollective on Substack.***

U.S. automotive sales haven’t come close to meeting their pre-COVID high and conventional wisdom suggests Americans have fallen out of love with the automobile. But you might question that assumption were you to attend the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas that starts today.

You’ve undoubtedly read all the headlines – some I may have written. Young folks are waiting longer to get their drivers licenses – if they bother getting them at all. New vehicle sales have fallen well below prior records and motorists are hanging onto their old models longer than ever. From a cultural standpoint, cars aren’t romanticized in song and show the way they were in decades past.

Yet, before you conclude that America’s love affair with the automobile is dead you might want to check out the SEMA Show which opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center today and runs through the weekend. While the figures vary from year to year it rivals the Consumer Electronics Show as the largest annual event in Sin City.

Short for Specialty Equipment Marketers Association, SEMA represents most major automakers, as well as thousands of suppliers and aftermarket vendors producing everything from replacement windshield wiper blades to high-performance “crate” engines and just about anything else used to repair, tune-up or update an automobile. In 2025, SEMA members generated more than $52 billion in revenue, and that’s expected to near $54 billion by the end of this year.

A Disneyland for Gearheads

“The SEMA Show is the place where you’ll find everything you might want for your car,” said Tom Gattuso, the vice president of events for the 69-year-old trade organization. “We bridge the gap between performance and day-to-day driving.”

About 160,000 people will wander through the 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space at the LV Convention Center over the coming days, checking out displays set up by about 2,600 separate exhibitors.

Traditionally, SEMA has been a trade show. It now opens its doors on Friday to the general public and will host a concert that evening featuring groups: The Offering, Jimmy Eat World, 311 and the Alive.

Big Brands Stake Out a High-Profile Presence

While they may be small in number, some of the biggest display feature major automotive brands:

• Ford will show off several concepts, including the Racing R125 Mustang which, it says, is “a heritage-inspired 1966 Mustang Fastback built around Ford Racing Parts.”
• Honda’s booth is filled with a variety of show vehicles, including the debut of the Civic Type R HRC, a prototype of a new high-performance model developed by the Japanese automaker’s racing arm.
• Nissan will debut a variety of different concepts and prototypes, including versions of its Pathfinder and Armada SUVs, as well as the Ronin, a show car based on the Frontier pickup and named after a class of “masterless warriors.” It is, the automaker explained, a “vision for a high-performance, unstoppable off-road truck.

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Fantasy Becomes Reality

Automakers like Ford, Honda and Nissan have been pairing back their presence at traditional auto shows in recent years. So, why up their visibility at SEMA?

“Nissan uses SEMA to keep a finger on the pulse of the enthusiast community, while exploring ideas and gathering feedback that can influence future products,” the automaker explained in a news release. “Our SEMA concept vehicles inspire drivers to personalize their Nissan using genuine Nissan and NISMO parts, turning passion into performance and creativity into reality.”

The reality is that most of these SEMA concepts are little more than fantasies in chrome. But you’ll likely see a few land in showrooms or, at the least, influence future products. One SEMA debut destined for production is the Mitsubishi Outlander Diamond Trail Edition, an off-road capable version of the automaker’s main crossover model. It’s set to go into production for the 2028 model year, indicated Mitsubishi Motors North America CEO Mark Chaffin. “SEMA is more than a a show for us,” Chaffin said. “It’s a declaration that Mitsubishi is building on its heritage of capability [and] adventure, while accelerating toward an exciting future.”

An Evolving Market

Check out the concepts on display at SEMA this year and you’ll likely notice a few trends. The muscle and sports cars that traditionally dominated the show have become increasingly rare. In their place are more and more SUVs and crossovers. And while some are tuned to deliver blistering performance on track and street, more and more are geared for overlanding and off-roading,

That reflects a massive new trend in the U.S. automotive market. Over the past two decades, a growing number of Americans have been heading off pavement – a movement that accelerated rapidly since the COVID first struck, noted Karen Bailey Chapman, SEMA’s senior vice president of public and government affairs. It offered folks a way to get out during the pandemic’s early lockdowns.

“It’s the fastest growing segment of the of the industry,” said Chapman. “It’s something that allows people to make the outdoors accessible to them…even though we’re (no longer) in lockdown mode.”

Another emerging trend can be found at the convention center’s massive North Hall which focuses on power sports for the first time. Among the displays: a set of Snowhunter concepts from Toyota replacing the tires of models including the Tundra and Tacoma pickups and 4Runner, Land Cruiser and Sequoia SUVs with snowmobile-style tracks. (Sorry, winter warriors, Toyota has given no indication it plans to actually produce a Snowhunter – though there’s some “informed” speculation it might offer aftermarket conversion parts.

Keeping the Old Jalopy Running

While the U.S. new car market may be flattening out, that doesn’t mean Americans don’t care about cars – or trucks, for that matter. As much as anything, it reflects the reality that the typical new vehicle now costs more than $50,000, according to Cox Automotive, an all-time record. Add rising interest rates and motorists are simply keeping their existing vehicles far longer than ever before – around 13 years, on average, up from less than nine years at the turn of the millennium.

As a result, said Chapman, they’re actually spending more to both maintain and customize their vehicles – great news for SEMA vendors who’re ready to sell everything from air fresheners and replacement wipers to engine upgrades and custom body parts. The off-road boom has created massive demand for roof racks and other accessories.

An Engine of Growth

That’s translated into big business, according to a study SEMA conducted for SEMA by John Dunham Associates. Based on the latest economic data it estimated the trade group’s members had a total annual economic impact of $383 billion last year, up 14% from 2023. That included wages of nearly $108 billion for an estimated 1.25 million people employed in the aftermarket sector. Notably, SEMA members added about 9,000 new jobs during that period, the report shows.

“It’s clear that the aftermarket industry remains a source of good-paying jobs and is rife with opportunity for small businesses to bring innovative products to market and play a part in sustaining this American economic driver of growth,” said Gavin Knapp, SEMA’s director of market research.

Whether the aftermarket can maintain that pace of growth is uncertain, however. There’s the impact of Trump tariffs, said Chapman. On the plus side, the tariffs could bring more jobs back to the U.S. But those duties are creating what she called “turbulence.” driving up the cost of foreign-made aftermarket goods, especially maintenance and repair items. Now, factor in the overall uncertainty surrounding the U.S. economy, said Chapman, and consumer “purchasing power really will determine the future” for SEMA and its members.

But even if sales do take a short-term hit, the history of SEMA has shown that motorists are always looking for ways to maintain and improve their vehicles. The love affair with the automobile is far from over.