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Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Has the sport compact tuning market bubble burst?(industry forecasts)
Byline: RICHARD S. CHANG
Has the import scene lost steam? That's what was on our minds as we headed to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, for the SEMA International Auto Salon last month.
Just three years ago the Auto Salon, SEMA's annual consumer and trade show for the sport compact segment, was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center next to the Staples Center, where the Lakers (and Clippers) are entertaining movie stars in the NBA playoffs. Two years ago it moved to Atlantic City. It remained there last year, though more in spirit than in size. The Fort Washington Expo Center is the least glamorous venue yet. Thirty minutes down the interstate from Philadelphia, it looks more like an industrial park. Inside, electrical sockets were exposed. The roof leaked. "Grassroots,'' Peter MacGillivray, vice president of marketing for SEMA, called it. On the plus side, parking was free.
This raised questions about the health of the sport compact segment as well as the future of the Auto Salon. All over the show there were rumblings of its pending demise. "There are a lot of things on the table right now,'' MacGillivray said the following week. "There are a lot of things being discussed. But my boss has challenged me with coming up with outrageous and crazy ideas.''
For example, there is talk of rolling it into another SEMA event-the SEMA Spring Expo-or collaborating with the NHRA Sport Compact Series. "We've discussed things like that and everything in between,'' MacGillivray continued. "Even to have a similar show to what we had this year-what about having it in Toronto? Bringing it to a different market altogether.''
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Source: HighBeam Research, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Has the sport compact tuning market bubble...