SEMA Charts What’s Hot In The Urban-Lifestyle Market
Our friends at SEMA put the ‘urban-lifestyle’ segment under the microscope, to see what’s hot in the aftermarket, both in terms of accessories and the vehicles that consumers put them on.
SEMA notes that the market reminds somewhat of the rather stagnant sport-compact scene, devotees of which historically tended to spend as much (or more) money on appearance items than they did performance parts.
The organization’s Top 5 vehicles owned by segment enthusiasts are interesting in that they focus not on a specific iteration of a model, but rather multiple generations of the same product. To wit:
On the accessories front, custom wheels lead the way, with fully 77-percent of consumers opting for new rollers, with the number two accessory being an alarm system, which is probably just as well considering how much money urban lifestyle enthusiasts tend to spend on their rides to boost their visibility.
(Click through to the jump for SEMA's breakdown of accessory spending)
+ SEMA: TOP MODS OF THE URBAN-LIFESTYLE MARKET
Comments
Don
"Urban lifestyle enthusiasts"?
What the hell does that even mean?
André
What's hot in urban lifestyles is bad fashion, cars, music, and hair.
WiiPlay
That's a good guess I think, but really, "What's hot" is living your life to the fullest (that includes owning your own homes, cars, and businesses). But still, that's a nice guess.
ryan
was that more of a wish list than an actual owning list? i don't see many "urban lifestyle" people driving any of the above, to be honest. granted, taht's through anecdotal evidence, but whatever. a thorough reread however tells me that it's by owners, not by wishful thinking... still, interesting.
i also find it amusing that people are buying rims but notsomuch tires (77% vs. 43%). are they just buying those that fit?
André
If the car list is true, this is the Air Jordan Syndrome all over again. You have poor inner-city folks wasting cash on things they can't really afford. Not one of those cars fits an urban lifestyle. By that, I mean none of those vehicles is cheap, fuel-efficient, or compact. Cities offer little room, so it would be prudent to have a small vehicle. Gas is more expensive in the city, but every one of those cars is desirable only with a V-8. The older used models are not expensive, but keep in mind a lot of owners put thousands into customizing them. This isn't helping society.
smokyburnout
well, yeah, the cars are 'desirable' with V8s, but that doesnt mean there's any shortage of poseurs who drive pimped-out v-6 chrysler 300s, mustangs, impalas, etc...
john
i agree with andre. it's not even stuff that helps the car either, from any sort of practical or engineering standpoint. you make the car heavier and rougher with oversized wheels, you hack the interior with an over-powered low quality sound system, then you lower it so that you cross your fingers at every speed bump... basically it's the "ricer"phenomenon except you don't even START with a low-priced, economic car
fantasyfreddy
Urban lifestyle means you leave a club at 2 am, drunk, and need to sleep in the car... so any car you can fold the seats flat and sleep in will do the job fine, guys!! even better if two people can sleep comfortably in it!!
fantasyfreddy
that's the appeal behind the escalade, etc... a cheap hotel room!! a honda fit works too, i would think!!
fantasyfreddy
then there is the hardcore urban lifestyle, which is sleeping in the car every night!!
smokefreak2003
As gas prices go up, and they will eventually, thats just the way the cookie is going to crumble (unless they find 2 trillion gallons of oil in some deep ocean trench) the V-8's will go. Youll start seeing more pimped out Fits, Accents, Versas, Yarises, X-D's, Focuses, Calibers, Aveos, SX-4's, Rio's, and used cars. The small cars of today are bigger than most of the intermediate sized cars of 20 or even 10 years ago. If I want something big ill pimp out a truck with an efficient duramax diesel that can take bio-diesel (like the Imapala from "Pimp My Ride" that got a bio-diesel put in.) Andre not all city dwellers like to drive Boats and SUV's with 90 inch rims (exaggerating).
-Always Drive Foreign
Less Customers will Teach the Big-3
To make real cars again.
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