The SEMA Show Opens on Election Day: 2,000 Brands, a Million Square Feet, and a Friday the Public Can Actually Get Into
Las Vegas's biggest trade week starts Tuesday at the renovated convention center — trade-only until Friday, streamed free for 32 hours, and sharing the city with both AAPEX and an election. Here is the shape of the week.
The 2026 SEMA Show fills the Las Vegas Convention Center from Tuesday, November 3 through Friday, November 6 — the automotive aftermarket's annual takeover of 3150 Paradise Road, in the first year of the campus after its $600 million renovation. Exhibitor commitments have passed 1 million net square feet of indoor exhibit space with more than 2,000 brands taking part, according to SEMA's preview materials read by the desk. Show hours run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.
Tuesday starts before the floor does. The Kickoff Breakfast at the Westgate Las Vegas opens its doors at 7 a.m. with the program at 7:20 — this year featuring Harley-Davidson President and CEO Artie Starrs in a fireside chat with Jay Leno — and the New Products Showcase in the Lower South Hall opens at 7:30 a.m., ahead of the halls. Badge pickup runs at the West Hall and Lower South Hall, with on-site registration in the Lower South Hall. Across town, AAPEX runs November 3-5 at The Venetian Expo, and one standard attendee badge covers both shows — the twin anchors of Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week.
The week's shape has two Las Vegas wrinkles. Opening day is also Election Day, and SEMA is asking attendees to make a plan to vote before they travel. And the show that is closed to the public for three days opens its doors on Friday: anyone 16 or older can buy a $130 Friday ticket ($170 bundled with SEMA Fest, the closing concert headlined by The Offspring), and Friday ends with the SEMA Cruise, when the show vehicles parade out of the convention center. Fans who cannot get in at all get SEMA Live instead — 32 hours of streamed coverage, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific daily on SEMA's YouTube and Facebook channels. The Monorail, meanwhile, opens early at 6 a.m. all four days — the city's own admission that this week moves early.
