My eleventh SEMA was simply as busy as I’ve ever been or seen the present. There have been shoulder-to-shoulder crowds nearly in every single place throughout the huge Las Vegas Conference Middle all 4 days of the present.
SEMA attracted 2,400 distributors and had over 1,400 autos on show, throughout 1.2 million sq. ft of exhibit area, this 12 months. Round 160,000 individuals from 140 international locations attended. It is without doubt one of the largest commerce reveals on the earth, and the most important automobile present. It’s all concerning the automotive aftermarket, which is an enormous trade.
As per common, I walked practically each sq. foot of the present — sure, my legs are drained. I searched excessive and low to particularly deliver you essentially the most attention-grabbing and actually new merchandise and journey autos on show.
SEMA 2024 Journey Car Scene
This 12 months, I discovered a lot of attention-grabbing new automobile builds, however truthfully not many new journey automobile builds. It is because many journey autos on show I’ve already proven you from different reveals — like Overland Expo — many builds had been simply poorly executed bolt-on monstrosities, and since there appeared to be manner much less of an overland and off-road journey automobile presence normally this 12 months. Specifically, the Overland Expertise space of the present was extraordinarily small and poorly attended by each distributors and showgoers.
This 12 months, I noticed just a few fashionable Chevy/GMC vans, rather a lot fewer Jeeps, rather a lot fewer 4Runners, an analogous massive quantity of Broncos, a couple of INEOS examples, a formidable exhibiting of the brand new Tacoma, and plenty of the brand new Land Cruiser 250s. This was additionally the 12 months of the Cybertruck and kei vans, which each had been excellent at attracting consideration.
This 12 months, there was additionally the introduction of tons extra powersports merchandise to the present. There have been PWCs, motos, UTVs, and some equipment. Many of the large automobile manufacturers on this area had been on the present, however solely a handful of accent firms, and most of these had been low-cost knockoff manufacturers.
5 Prime Autos: SEMA 2024 Finest in Present
Sufficient with the occasion overview. Let’s dive into my picks for the perfect journey autos of SEMA 2024.
EarthRoamer LTx
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
EarthRoamer has been making top-spec expedition campers for 26 years now. The following era of its flagship product is now right here, the LTx.
This Ford F-550-based automobile has an all-new structure. The brand new structure has a big rear dinette and a pass-through gear tunnel that doubles the rear storage capability. The entry door to the camper has additionally been moved manner ahead and widened.
In fact, your complete electrical system has been absolutely overhauled and up to date. It’s now a 24V system, a 18KWh lithium-ion battery financial institution, bigger inverters, and extra photo voltaic.
In addition to the massive structure and electrical system modifications, the EarthRoamer LTx additionally will get a brand new walnut inside possibility, new roof rack that’s mounted with no holes within the roof for higher weatherproofing, and even a brand new bike rack accent for the rear bins to make loading and unloading a lot simpler.
Whereas we’re simply getting our first have a look at this new overland machine, present EarthRoamer house owners acquired a preview again in September. Between then and now, 28 of the brand new LTx fashions have been offered, so in the event you put in your order now, you may anticipate a summer time 2026 supply.
And no, these campers aren’t cheap. Whereas pricing begins within the $700,000s, a correctly specced one is within the $900,000s.
Proffitt’s Resurrection Cruisers ‘Taco Tuesday’
(Picture/Proffitt’s Resurrection Cruisers)
The ‘Taco Tuesday’ 1959 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ28 pickup restomod by Proffitt’s Resurrection Cruisers was positioned within the Toyo Tread Move space at SEMA, the place there are at all times some outrageous and spectacular builds. Even amongst some actually daring autos, its Lime Rush Inexperienced paint made it stand out from the gang.
The concept behind this construct was to have all of the tech, reliability, and luxury present in a contemporary Tacoma with the fashion and rugged functionality present in a traditional Land Cruiser. Whereas a lot of the construct is customized, it makes use of a ton of OEM Toyota components all through, principally from Tacoma.
Below the hood is a supercharged 3.5L Toyota V6 backed by a six-speed guide transmission. The truck rides on strong axles and 37-inch tires. Mix that setup with lockers, a winch, Maxtrax, and a rooftop tent, and this construct is prepared for off-road and overland adventures.
(Picture/Proffitt’s Resurrection Cruisers)
Go deeper into this very well-executed construct within the story I wrote: ‘Taco Tuesday’: Half ’59 Land Cruiser Pickup, Half Supercharged Tacoma, All Toyota.
Path Tailor Land Cruiser 6×6 ‘Bruce’
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
Whereas a bit hidden on the present, within the Energy Service sales space, ‘Bruce,’ the 6×6 Land Cruiser, was price looking for. This 1983 60-Collection Land Cruiser was utterly reworked by the staff at Path Tailor to turn out to be a diesel-powered 6×6 flat-bed truck. Particularly, it was constructed to be a tow rig for the corporate’s different customized off-road Land Cruisers.
Completed only a week earlier than SEMA, ‘Bruce’ has a 24V Cummins coronary heart, is a real 6×6, rolls on 37s, is triple locked, and has a really cool customized flatbed with headache-rack that has built-in exhaust stacks. The inside has a ton of customized touches, like a leather-based sprint, Scheel-Mann touring seats, door playing cards, and again seats that had been matched to the entrance seat insert materials.
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
This construct was featured within the SEMA Battle of the Builders competitors, attaining a prime 10 within the off-road class. That accolade, and any others it receives, are very worthy, because the caliber of the workmanship and customized components actually make this a standout automobile.
Toyota 4Runner TRD Surf Idea
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
What’s to not like a couple of brand-new 2025 Toyota 4Runner with two doorways, a detachable prime, rad graphics, and a few off-road goodies! The TRD Surf Idea has all of the classic ’80s aptitude with all the newest tech of the next-generation 4Runner.
This construct is precisely what it seems to be like: a brand new 4Runner with its prime chopped off, a rear roll-hoop added, two doorways eliminated, and the TRD accent components catalog thrown at it. All of that sounds simple, however after speaking to engineers concerning the construct, it was fairly a process to make all of it come collectively and current in a recent from the manufacturing facility/might presumably go into manufacturing manner.
Too unhealthy it’s only a idea, as I believe there can be various consumers for such a automobile.
You may dive deeper into this very cool Toyota in my reveal story: Two-Door, Detachable Laborious-Prime 2025 4Runner: Introducing the Toyota TRD Surf Idea.
Kia PV5 WKNDR Idea EV Van 1
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
The Kia PV5 WKNDR is a really enjoyable electrical idea camper van. Whereas it’s based mostly on a brand new electrical van platform that’s really going into manufacturing, it is vitally a lot an idea automobile.
It did its job effectively on the SEMA Present 2024, attracting a ton of consideration and all types of love-it and hate-it feedback on the interwebs. The slide-out wall, entrance bumper winch data display screen, and slat wall system attracted essentially the most consideration. You may dive into extra of its options and specs in my full story on it: Kia Debuts 2 Electrical Journey Car Ideas at SEMA.
(Picture/Bryon Dorr)
A remark I heard a couple of instances about this idea was that it seems to be just like the Turtle van — or Celebration Wagon — from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ’80s TV present. Now that I heard that, I can’t unsee it.
