The 2004 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show will include a new area called Performance Tires & Wheels sponsored by the Tire Industry Association (TIA), which replaces the International Tire Expo (ITE) name.
The section had previously been called the ITE for a number of years.
"I'm not sure if ITE meant a lot to anybody," says TIA Executive Vice President Roy Littlefield. "I'm not sure if anyone tied ITE to TIA."
TIA officials pushed for the name change and reached a compromise with SEMA to create the new moniker, according to Littlefield.
"Being sectionalized was hurting us. We were losing people out of our section" in the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
"We agreed that it was in the best interest of everyone that the whole hall be sponsored by TIA," which will promote the TIA name, he says.
Everybody who currently exhibits at the convention -- including non-performance tire companies -- "will still be in the show."
Littlefield adds that TIA officials are looking at changing the name of its World Tire Expo show in Louisville, Ky., to "better reflect the target markets of that show," namely commercial tires and retreading.
