Detroit shows off automotive add-ons in LV

Justin Hyde

Monday, Nov. 1, 1999 | 10:10 a.m.

Chrome wheels, running boards and spiced-up engines used to be the exclusive tools of garage Van Goghs who took vehicles from Detroit and transformed them into something unique.

But these days, Detroit is paying more attention to the gizmos and gee-gaws customers stick on their vehicles -- and even getting into the game itself.

That interest will be a big part of the annual mecca for the auto accessories industry, the Specialty Equipment Market Association's trade show in Las Vegas that begins today. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler and other automakers all plan several events to show off their latest wares to some 80,000 retailers and 6,000 vendors expected to attend.

Charlie Van Cleve, the association's chairman, said much of the automakers' attentions can be traced to a growth spurt in the $21 billion market for customizing products.

"Detroit has been looking at us like 'My gosh, maybe there's something here we're missing,"' Van Cleve said. "I think they're realizing the consumer wants his or her vehicle to be a little different than the guy or girl next door. And we can manufacture a part and change it so much faster than Detroit."

The market has grown more than 9 percent a year for the past 12 years, according to association figures. Industry consultant James Lang, president of Lang Marketing Resources in Wyckoff, N.J., said much of the growth has come due to the shift in consumer tastes from cars to pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

"People who purchase light trucks have an unending appetite to purchase accessories for those vehicles," Lang said. "The least expensive vehicle you can buy new is usually a stripped-down truck, and they're often bought by younger people who buy these accessories."

There are historical precedents for Detroit's interest in popular add-ons. For instance, "We invented the seat belt and rearview mirrors," noted Van Cleve.

But these days manufacturers keep adding on. In August, Ford announced the Harley-Davidson F-150 pickup -- a truck decked out with Harley-Davidson logos, bigger tires and chrome exhaust tips. While a suggested price has not been announced, Lang noted that such add-ons are usually high-profit items.

It's not just cosmetic products that do well. Squeezing more power out of engines has always been a big part of car customizers, and another area that automakers pay attention to. For the past few years, the best sellers have been hot-rod products for small Japanese cars, especially the Honda Civic, a favorite among young Californians.

Van Cleve said the Civic and other Japanese models were often "Mom-and-Pop grocery getters" that were handed down to children, who then spruced them up. Lang said today's hot-rodders tend to do less complicated engine work than their counterparts in the 1960s and '70s.

"Emissions controls and computerization has served as a damper on some engine productions," Lang said.

The other goods getting attention from automakers and suppliers are high-tech components that aren't quite ready for mass production. While a few automakers have proposed installing Internet-capable computers in cars, there's already one such device on the market -- the Clarion Auto PC, a voice-activated in-dash computer/CD player that sells for $1,300.