LAS VEGAS, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- At the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas
this week, hundreds of companies entered the New Product Showcase awards
competition, vying for the chance to be singled out over the other entries as
a best-new item. This year, a panel of ten specialty automotive industry
judges reviewed nearly 900 new products.
This year's hottest new trendsetters in each of the ten product categories
are:
Best New Accessory Product
Lokar Motorsports was the big winner in this category with its adjustable-
level self-locking hood prop. The hood prop automatically locks when the hood
is opened, and it can be adjusted to hold the hood securely at multiple height
levels. Runners up for this award were Flex-A-Lite and Mothers Polishes,
Waxes and Cleaners.
Best New Mobile Electronics Product
Vizualogic, a division of TMI Products, claimed this year's award with its
Vizualogic(TM) Perfect Match(TM) sunvisor monitors. They replace the factory
sunvisors and feature a built-in monitor for viewing DVDs, videos, games and
more-reducing installation time and difficulty for custom entertainment
systems. They were followed by runners up F2P Electronics and Show FX.
Best New Off-Road/4-Wheel-Drive Product
Chassis Tech's Truckin Suspension lift hanger kit beat the competition by
allowing Ford Super Duty pickup owners to lift their trucks 4 to 8 inches with
factory springs for a smooth ride. Right behind Chassis Tech were the runners
up, Dynatech Competition Exhaust and Extreme Outback Products.
Best New Performance-Racing Product
Topping the list this year was Design Engineering Inc.'s CRY02 Air Charge
Freezer. It uses cryogenics technology to freeze the air going into an
engine. This increases the power output because colder air is denser,
allowing an engine to burn more air and fuel at a time. The air freezes when
it passes over a CO2-charged aerodynamic bulb located in the air intake
stream. Runners up: Edelbrock Corp. and Turbosmart Party Ltd.
Best New Performance-Street Product
The No. 1 spot this year went to Competition Cams for its ZEX Nitrous Air
Amplifier, which is the first race-quality air induction system to harness the
kinetic energy of nitrous oxide. Tests show an air flow increase of 50 cfm
with just a 75-horsepower nitrous shot. The runners up were Hawk
Performance/Quarter Master and Evolution Motorsports.
Best New Street Rod/Custom Car Product
Topping this category was D-M-C with its custom stainless steel brake
master cylinder. It gives custom vehicle builders the choice of several
dual-reservoir, low-profile designs to fit in tight spaces, plus a variety of
custom lid options to suit the owner's style. Runners up: Aeroquip Eaton
Corp. and Flaming River Industries.
Best New Van/Pickup/Sport-Utility Vehicle Product
The award winner was Street Scene Equipment with its new Street Scene
Hitch Plug and Cover that smoothes out the back end of most trucks and SUVs
and completely covers the hitch area. Next in line were JSC Engineering and
Schefenacker Vision Systems Australia.
Best Engineered New Product
Davis Instruments runs away with this year's award with its innovative
Carchip E/X that continuously monitors engine and driver performance and can
be downloaded instantly to a PC for detailed analysis and graphing. Runners
up were Hot Rods and Horsepower LLC and Street Rod Digital Inc.
Best New Merchandising Display
Leading the pack was Warn Industries with its hot new in-store display for
the 9.5ti Thermometric Winch. Runners up were BCS by Webb-USA and American
Products Co. (APC).
Best New Packaging Design
Nitrous Express claimed this year's top honor with its TFATF Nitrous
Express Shipping Box, which is visually stimulating with high-impact graphics
that represent the lifestyle of the import racing scene. Runners up:
Automotive Racing Products (ARP) and Centerforce Clutches, a division of
Midway Industries.
"Hot new products and designs like these award winners make coming to the
SEMA Show every year mandatory for those people who want to be successful in
our automotive specialty equipment market," said Christopher J. Kersting, CAE,
president of SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association. "Our SEMA Show
exhibitors do a great job each year of outdoing their previous successes and
raising the bar even higher."
Kersting said that this year's new product display program had new
features for both the entrants and those buyers and media who came to view
them. Every product and display shown in the area had an accompanying press
release that featured a picture of the item, its description, the booth number
where the item was on display and a URL where more information could be found.
The new product display area was set in a new, high-traffic location in
the North Hall of the newly expanded Las Vegas Convention Center.
Each year, the SEMA Show rolls into the Las Vegas Convention Center. For
2002, more than 1,500 exhibitors, an all-time record, unveiled the latest in
vehicle technologies, products and accessories at the industry-only trade
show, held Tuesday through Friday, Nov. 5-8. For more information on this
year's show, log on to http://www.semashow.com .
SEMA represents the $26 billion specialty automotive industry. The trade
association has more than 4,500 member companies. It is the authoritative
source of research data, trends and market growth information for automakers
and the specialty auto products industry. The industry provides appearance,
performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for passenger cars,
minivans, trucks, SUVs and recreational vehicles. For more information,
contact SEMA at 1575 S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, Calif., 91765-3914;
call 909/396-0289; or visit http://www.sema.org or http://www.enjoythedrive.com
For further information, please contact: Media, Rosemarie Kitchin,
ext. 104, rosemariek@sema.org, or Lisa Guth, ext. 181, lisag@sema.org, both of
SEMA, +1-909-396-0289.
SOURCE SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association)
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Related links:
http://www.sema.org
http://www.semashow.com http://www.enjoythedrive.com
CONTACT:
Media, Rosemarie Kitchin, ext. 104,
rosemariek@sema.org, or Lisa Guth, ext. 181, lisag@sema.org, both
of SEMA, +1-909-396-0289
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