With many vendors still parking cars, polishing wheels, and setting up booths, the Specialty Equipment Market Association kicked off industry week with the keynote luncheon at noon on Monday, November 02.

Ford's Ken Czubay at the Keynote Luncheon.

The keynote speaker for the luncheon was Ford Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Service, Ken Czubay, and it couldn’t have come on a better day, as the car maker announced a 997 million profit for the third quarter of 2009 early that morning.

Before keynote speaker addressed the audience, SEMA President and CEO Christopher J. Kersting provided an introduction to the 2009 show. He noted there are over 1750 exhibitors at this year’s show, and over 150,000 people were registered to attend. The new products showcase, which moved this year to the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, will feature over 1,500 new products. He emphasized that the SEMA’s goal at this show is “getting products and brands well positioned in the market.”

SEMA President and CEO Christopher J. Kersting introduced Czubay.

After Czubay was introduced, he spoke about the fine-tuning of the Ford DNA. Whereas other car companies are in the midst of reinvention, Czubay said that is simply not the case with Ford.

“At Ford we’re not re-inventing our company … we’re working our plan,” he said.

The focus for the company is producing great vehicles and getting people in them, which he exclamated by saying “the product is the story.” Ford’s strategy is to let other customers and owners help push the product, so that consumers hear about Ford’s vehicles from happy customer who own them. This “grassroots” concept gets Ford away from pushing the product on consumers – something Czubay says Ford has no intention of doing.

Maintaining the passion and emotion is also a huge part of Ford’s future plans. Ford has reduced the number of vehicles it is offering from 97 down to 31. In the U.S. market, the popular F-150 and the Mustang have been staples for the company, but as Czubay noted, Ford is becoming a car company, and this means a concerted effort will be placed on providing U.S. customers with better options. With the Fiesta, hybrid Fusion, Focus and Taurus, Ford feels it has a solid lineup of vehicles that consumers want both in domestic and international markets.

“If you’re going to be seen as a successful company in this market, you have to compete well beyond the F series, the number-one selling truck for 32 years, and Mustang,” he said. “You have to become a car company.

“Of course we won’t forget how well we do with trucks. Now, becoming the car company doesn’t mean we’re going to walk away from being the truck-selling leader for over 33 years in a row. We’re really going to apply the same focus on trucks, the same focus on our market, the same interactivity.”

Ford has also shifted its marketing strategy to place a greater emphasis on digital. Whereas television advertising was the company’s main marketing avenue before, Ford has moved to digital marketing and experiential opportunities, such as the customization functions Ford offers for its Mustang and its social network communities based around models.
Czubay noted Ford’s continued cooperation and need for the aftermarket to thrive, which is no surprise considering the

Mustang is the most accessorized vehicle in the automotive aftermarket. His call to action for the aftermarket is to expand offerings beyond trucks and Mustangs. Ford has thrived with a cooperative relationship with the aftermarket for many years, and has Ford shifts its focus on vehicles other than its staples, the company wants to aftermarket to grow with them again.

Kenny Brack's 2009 X Games-winning Ford Fiesta.

After the keynote speech, attendees were give then opportunity to check out the vehicles Ford displayed at the luncheon, including the X Games Rally X winning Ford Fiesta of Kenny Brack. The Fiesta has been a very popular vehicle for the company overseas, and it will be coming stateside in early 2010 as a 2011 model but not in this race carnation. Brack, who won the Indianapolis 500 back in 1999 but had mostly retired from competition, took his 450-horsepower Ford Fiesta to Gold with the vehicle earlier this year in LA.

Ford also displayed a eye-catching Lime Green Focus RS, which is a European model only currently available overseas. This front-wheel-drive Focus features a 2.5-liter, turbocharged engine rated to produce 300 horsepower. The 6-speed Focus features limited slip and offers a unique “revo-knuckle” suspension system for performance.

A unique Taurus SHO was displayed at the luncheon as well. This Taurus was customized by Mustang Racing Technologies (MRT) has a unique Black Cherry two-tone paintjob. The MRT Taurus features a 2 1/2-inch stainless steel exhaust that runs all the way from the engine’s twin turbos. The black ground effects were replaced with color-matching pieces, and the shiny chrome pieces were toned down with a “black chrome” finish. The body is lowered two inches, and 22-inch Kuhmo tires are equipped to handle the added horsepower the SHO model produces.