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Carmakers’ Cool Customs Cruise Vegas for SEMA 2024
Electric hot rods join the traditional combustion-powered rides for this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas.
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The Nissan Frontier TARMAC concept patrols the streets of Vegas before SEMA.Nissan
Electric hot rods join the traditional combustion-powered rides for this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas.
This year’s edition of the SEMA show at the Las Vegas Convention Center boasts more than 2,400 exhibiting brands, including 580 first-time exhibitors. There are more than 1,400 vehicles on display across the show’s 1.2 million square feet of space.
Most of these exhibitors will offer some specialized part or gadget targeting a specific community in car culture, but the real interest comes from the carmakers themselves. The show cars they build for SEMA point to their future product thinking, even if these show cars aren’t really previews of production plans.
Ram trucks, Chrysler’s Mopar Parts division, Toyota, Kia, and Nissan were the high-profile factory participants this year. While SEMA was traditionally focused more on coupes and sedans for the street, the popularity of trucks and SUVs gives this year’s show more of an off-road flavor.
Click through the photo gallery from some of the highlights of SEMA 2024.
About the Author
Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.
A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.
Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.
Dan, testing the 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish. ANDY MORGAN/ASTON MARTIN
He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.
He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.
He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.
He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.
Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.
He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
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