SEMA OEM Report: Jesus Died For Chrysler's Sins
OK, before we get into the gory details, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the fact that Chrysler’s presence at the SEMA show was something of a minor miracle. Of course, there are presences and there are presences. Chrysler’s display was tucked far away from the highest-trafficked areas of the Las Vegas Convention Center. And its stand was the only major OEM presence on the ground floor of the South Hall, which was otherwise packed with wheels, tires and cheesecake. Of course, if you never found it you’d not have missed much. The whole shebang could be summed up in a single word: Challenged. There were about equal numbers of new and vintage Challengers making up the vast majority of the Mopar display. Sure, there were a handful of lifted Rams and Jeeps, but otherwise it was all Challenger, all the time. In the interests of complete fairness, Chrysler also showed a Landaulet version of its 300C and there was a Viper as well. But no Calibers, Chargers, Avengers, Sebrings, etc. Not that they were necessarily missed, but it definitely gave the impression that ChryCo’s corporate masters were spending as little money as possible in order to highlight only the most strip-and-flippable brands in the stable. And though the 300C-ized Magnum’s crucifix art pictured here seemed to sum up Chrysler’s tragic circumstances, it was not part of the Chrysler display.
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MoPar was in the same hall at last year's show, so them being there this year is in of itself not a damning development. I am in the trade show industry, so I know space selection and priority points apply to where you are. Budget is what sets the size of your space.
Come on Ed, now that you've done the SEMA death watch mini series, how bout surprising us all with SOMETHING you found that you actually liked? If there is no such creature, how bout... disparagingly telling us what other people thought was hot?