Who Are You?What do you want?We'll tell you. SEMA's ongoing internet survey turns its marketing microscope on those people who buy automobiles and stuff to put on them, resulting in data that it hopes is useful to its mercantile members, ivory-tower researchers, and nosey journalists. Its most recent results, gleaned from the participation of 317 glassy-eyed web surfers says that the fast-and-furious scene is still influencing the buying decisions of young automotive enthusiasts. Averaging 26 years of age, these fellas are buying engine, wheel and tire, and suspension products usually seen on the compact, front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder tuners. These people are drooling after the same upgrades popular in the custom pickup market, which may say something about the category-busting tendencies of the younger generation that is willing to apply its knowledge and enthusiasm for a specific custom scene to whatever vehicles catches its interest.
Check out these tables for details: We picked the Top Five engine, exhaust, wheel, tire, and suspension upgrades because we didn't have room for more. If you want more info, SEMA will be happy to sell it to you.
| TOP ENGINE AND EXHAUST PURCHASES |
| 44% | have an air intake conversion (28.3% want it) |
| 35.9% | have a performance air filter replacement (16.4% want it) |
| 34.6% | have a muffler (25.5% want it) |
| 29.9% | have exhaust pipes/tubing (36.6% want it) |
| 24.8% | have exhaust tips (22.8% want it) |
| TOP WHEEL, TIRE, AND SUSPENSION PURCHASES |
| 34.2% | have high-performance street tires (28.9% want it) |
| 29.9% | have aluminum wheels (27.9% want it) |
| 20.5% | have brake rotors (29.9% want it) |
| 18.8% | have coil springs (15.1% want it) |
| 17.1% | have lowering kits (18.5% want it) |
| PERCENTAGE OF CONSUMERS WITH HIGH INTEREST IN THE FOLLOWING VEHICLES |
| 50% | Compact Performance |
| 45% | Race Vehicles |
| 43% | Musclecars |
| 38% | Street Rods & Customs |
| 29% | Restored Vehicles |
| 18% | Off-Road Vehicles |
| 16% | Light-Trucks |
| 3% | Vans |
Jobs...InterruptedCiting lackluster sales, shrinking marketshares, and high structural costs, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner stated in his annual address to shareholders that GM will close assembly and component plants and lay off 25,000 manufacturing employees in North America between 2005 and 2008. That's a quarter of its U.S. workforce. Wagoner said that these actions "will generate annual savings of approximately $2.5 billion."