Jim Spoonhower, SEMA's vice-president of market research, says, "It's all based on kids customizing and personalizing their front-wheel-drive cars with larger wheels and tires, wild body kits and graphics, exhaust products, suspension modifications, performance products, and elaborate sound and security systems. It's a trend we saw developing in Southern California back in the early '90s. While the Civic and other imports are still the vehicles of choice in this segment, domestic manufacturers such as Ford, with the Focus, have helped broaden the market further."
According to a recent SEMA study, 18- to 25-year-olds represent the core sport-compact buyer, with 62-percent of the market, with another 11 percent going to younger licensed driver, and the same number going to adults up to 30.
In all, 84 percent of the market is under 30, but aside from age it's difficult to pigeonhole the average compact performance buyer. In the U.S., according to the SEMA study, this is an ethnically diverse group, with 42 percent Asian/Pacific Islanders, 33.3 percent white, 15.2 percent Hispanic, and 4.3 percent African American.
Though this is a predominately male audience, SEMA's Blum says, women now make up nearly 20 percent of the market, and their influence is growing.
"Unlike the traditional hot-rod crowd who grew up on big, rear-drive V-8s with 4-barrel carburetors and breaker-point ignitions, the compact-performance consumers are getting their automotive kicks from front-wheel-drive vehicles with fuel-injected, 4-cylinder engines that rely heavily on computer controlled engine management," Blum explains.