Top 5 Coolest Cars, Concepts, and Trends At SEMA 2012
The Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show is held every single year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Glittering under the lights of the casinos that surround the Las Vegas Convention Center, the 2012 edition of the SEMA Show hosted some of the most exclusive, beautiful, and fast automobiles ever built by the aftermarket. If custom cars and trucks are your thing, then the SEMA show absolutely needs to be circled on your calendar.
We were lucky enough to be at SEMA 2012, and while the sheer size of the event and the number of vehicles there are overwhelming we were able to pick out five of the coolest cars, concepts, and trends that we came across during the week. Let's take a closer look at what jumped out at us at SEMA 2012.
01. Kia's We Can Be Heroes Customs
Kia has teamed up with the "We Can Be Heroes" charity campaign being run by comic book giant DC Entertainment to help fight famine and hunger in Africa. In order to draw as much attention as possible to their efforts, Kia put together five special vehicles inspired by the Justice League of America superheroes and brought them to SEMA for all of the world to see.
The centerpiece of the collection is a Kia Optima that has been given a sinister Batman treatment, with dual Bat-Logos on each side as well as a slick glossy and flat-black paint job. Aquaman is showcased via a green and orange-fish scale Kia Rio5, the Flash presents a strikingly airbrushed orange Kia Forte Koup shot through with yellow flames and lighting bolts, and Cyborg rides in a grey Forte hatchback that offers a chunked-up, digital front fascia. The coolest of the five is arguably the Green Lantern's Kia Soul, with its green-on-black colour scheme and green tinted windows.
02. 2012 Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational
You don't even have to go inside the Las Vegas Convention Center to be immersed in a world of awesome rides. Parked all around the Center's grounds are hundreds of street cars and trucks and vehicles the defy description, many of them entered in the Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational. This event pits some of the hottest metal head-to-head in a competition that tests performance, design, and style at the Spring Mountain Motor Ranch Facility on November 3, but first many of the entrants are put on display at SEMA to show off before they are put to the test.
03. The Global RallyCross Championship
The first night of the 2012 SEMA Show was marked by the final race in the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship season, an event that would decide who would emerge as the overall winner of the series. With Ford team-mates Tanner Foust and Brian Deegan separated by only three points the qualifying heats were fraught with tension until Deegan managed to put himself in the final race by winning the last-chance qualifier. When Ken Block's Ford caught fire with just two laps left, GRC made the surprise decision to re-run the entire race, giving Deegan a second shot at unseating Foust from his first-place throne. Alas, it was not to be, with Foust holding on to first and Deegan coming in second both in that night's race and the overall championship.
What is Global RallyCross? This exciting series - in only its second season - features 600 horsepower, all-wheel drive subcompact hatchbacks against each other on tight, technical courses made up of water, dirt, tarmac and even jumps that overlap the circuit, creating something like the ultimate adrenaline-inspired Hot Wheels track. The cars, which can hit 100 km/h in less than two seconds (faster than even a Formula 1 car) are piloted by drivers hand-picked from the world of rally, X-Games, trophy trucks, and motocross. It is one of the most entertaining motorsports events in North America.
04. The Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ Love-Fest
As if anyone needed any more proof that the Scion FR-S and its Subaru twin the BRZ were the hottest new vehicle introductions of 2012, the SEMA show cemented just how quickly these compact coupes have been embraced by the aftermarket industry. It seemed like almost everywhere you turned you were running into either one or the other, modified for speed, style, or a mix of the two. Drift BRZs sat beside slammed FR-S models, with tuners lining up to produce their own unique takes on a platform that provides affordable performance suitable for both street and track. The FR-S/BRZ are well on its way to becoming this generation's Fox-body Mustang or 90's-era Civic in terms of their ubiquity and appeal in the aftermarket scene.
05. The Return of the Wagon
SEMA isn't just about the latest and greatest - there's also a heavy classic performance, hot rod, and restoration presence at the show. This year it warmed our hearts to see just how many antique station wagons were recipients of loving attention from the aftermarket. Whether it was a set of surfboard-bearing woodies, a slammer Ford Country Squire, a completely custom '59 Cadillac wagon complete with suicide doors, or any number of the turbocharged, big block, or otherwise modified Japanese and American wagons that littered the showroom floor, it's clear that these previously-neglected styling icons are finally getting their due from collectors and enthusiasts.
