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PROJECT PROFILE: Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA, 2014 award)
At a SEMA event in Abu Dhabi, U.S. producers of specialty automotive equipment inspect a Toyota Hilux, which is a model popular for customizing in the Gulf States, but is not made or sold in the United States. image: SEMA
Hands-On Overseas Means More Export Products
U.S. firms attending SEMA’s business development event in Abu Dhabi in March 2016 took advantage of the opportunity to obtain the relevant measurements of the vehicles pictured above so that they could create customized aftermarket parts for export. This activity is part of SEMA’s second MDCP project. Two years into this three-year project, 98 SEMA member firms participated in measuring sessions.
MDCP Award/SEMA Match: $300,000/$928,685
Markets Targeted: China, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Australia
U.S. Industry Promoted: Automotive aftermarket
Period: 2014-2019
Key ITA Collaborators:
- Elizabeth Couch, I&A/Office of Transportation & Machinery
- Eduard Roytberg, GM/USEAC Ontario, CA
- Ashok Ghosh, GM/CS Dubai
- Dao Le, GM/CS Dubai
- Xavier Muthu, GM/CS Kuwait City
- Wasif Shah, GM/CS Jeddah
- Leon Skarshinski, GM/CS beijing
- Feng Tan, GM/CS Beijing
- Duncan Archibald, GM/CS Sydney
- James Cramer, GM/Office of Middle East & North Africa
- James Pruitt, GM/Office of China
- Fred Aziz, GM/CS Jeddah
- Gary Rand, GM/CS Abu Dhabi
Project Description:
- Host measuring sessions for vehicles popular in the Middle East and China.
- Create a global vehicle parts CAD/CAM library of popular vehicles popular abroad.
- Regularly share info on target market prospects, regulation, distribution networks.
- Encourage target-markets officials to seek industry regulations which allow U.S. products equal access.
Project Milestone Report (Part B)
Projected Exports Generated by 2019: $40,000,000
Exports Generated by 2018.12.31: $87,277,669
Exports Per Dollar of award: $291
Read the MDCP Project Application
At SEMA’s annual international business development events held in China and the Middle East, U.S. specialty equipment companies not only have the opportunity to meet potential buyers, but also learn about market-specific vehicle customization trends, and gain access to vehicles not made or sold in the United States. This enables them to make aftermarket products for export. By obtaining the relevant data, U.S. companies can develop, manufacture and export customized aftermarket parts for these international vehicles.
The Toyota Hilux pictured above, in addition to five other vehicles on display at SEMA's Abu Dhabi event, are popular vehicle models for car owners in the Middle East to have customized. To determine which vehicles to include in the measuring sessions, SEMA surveys auto groups, custom shops, and others familiar with trends in these markets to determine which models are popular for customizing in these markets.
During SEMA's events, SEMA staff, using a laser scanner, collects the measurements for these selected international vehicles. In addition to SEMA's overseas measuring sessions, SEMA has also temporarily imported international vehicles for U.S. companies and for SEMA staff to take measurements at their own U.S. facilities or at the SEMA Garage at SEMA's headquarters in Diamond Bar, California. SEMA now has a library with the compiled CAD files for these international vehicles that U.S. companies can use to develop products for export.
Outreach to U.S. Member Companies
SEMA succeeds in recruiting companies to participate in its overseas events to meet new customers through a comprehensive outreach effort that includes the following:
- A dedicated webportal: Sema.org/international
- Video testimonials from member firms that have participated in SEMA's overseas events (see links below)
- Three educational roundtables on selling to the Middle East, China and Australia at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas
- An export fair that includes: a seminar with seasoned exporters, top overseas buyers, and a free consultation with an intellectural property rights (IPR) attorney
At SEMA's first export fair, 65 attendees from U.S. companies learned about IPR protection, learned of ITA's services to help U.S. companies to export, and, heard from seasoned exporters and top international buyers from the three priority regions: China, the Middle East (UAE and Saudi Arabia) and Australia.
Overseas Events
SEMA creates overseas events tailored to the needs and interests of its members and the foreign buyers it seeks to attract. In Abu Dhabi and Shangai, each U.S.company has a booth to meet potential distributors at a trade show that specifically targets buyers interested in automotive specialty equipment and vehicle customization. In Australia, SEMA has a stand-alone event for the U.S. companies to exhibit their products and meet potential buyers.
Every SEMA overseas event includes visits to custom auto shops and specialty distributors, something that is not possible in association with large trade shows. The events also include market briefings from ITA staff. The distributor visits and briefings have contributed to SEMA members gaining a better understanding of the market, including its unique features, opportunities and challenges.
Under its 2014 MDCP project, SEMA has held such events in the UAE three times, in China twice, and once in Australia. Participation has ranged from 12 to 36 U.S. firms per trip.
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SEMA members make, buy, sell and use all kinds of specialty parts and accessories to make vehicles more attractive, more unique, more convenient, faster, safer, more fun and like-new again. The trade association represents the interests of hundreds of U.S. companies. SEMA is based in Diamond Bar, California.
SEMA contact: Linda Spencer
- SEMA home page
- How to apply for MDCP funding
- Contact your local Export Assistance Center
- 2015 SEMA Middle East Business Development Program
- SEMA Members Explore Business in Australia
- China Business Development Conference Hosted by SEMA
- 2016 SEMA Middle East Business Development Program
- Custom Show Emirates 2017.03.30 Dubai
- aFe Power Makes Progress In Asia and The Middle East
- Highlight: Seeing How Stuff Is Sold Abroad
- Highlight: CAD Scan Library for Creating Export-Only Products
- Highlight: How to Protect Intellectual Property Abroad
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