SEMA Show 2026

The SEMA Show is a trade-only event for the automotive specialty equipment business, meaning parts, accessories and customization rather than routine service work. SEMA states plainly that it is not open to the public. The people walking it are buyers for retailers, installers, restyling and performance shops, distributors and builders, looking for products to stock or specify.

The floor

SEMA describes its exhibiting companies as primarily small businesses owned and operated by automotive enthusiasts, alongside accessory manufacturers and major automakers. The show fills the Las Vegas Convention Center; SEMA cites roughly 1.2 million net square feet of exhibit space, 2,400 exhibiting companies and about 1,500 feature vehicles. Those vehicles are a large part of the visual language of the floor, and a booth competes against them for attention as much as against the stand next door.

SEMA reports more than 161,000 total attendees, including 71,000 buyer-company representatives, 3,300 media and visitors from over 140 countries. AAPEX runs the same week across town at the Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum, and the same buyers commonly walk both on a single trip. Exhibitors with a line that straddles performance and service should weigh which of the two floors their customer actually spends the day on.