Playing the parts: automakers embracing aftermarket 'gearheads'.

The big automakers used to treat little aftermarket parts makers the way Donald Trump treated Martha Stewart. There was reason for such disdain: The aftermarket manufacturers were making millions.

But now, several automakers are putting an arm over the shoulder of aftermarket manufacturers and sharing their deepest secrets. Instead of forcing the aftermarket to rent vehicles off the nearest car lot so they could make knockoff parts, the big automakers are helping the aftermarket get the specifications they need.

"We regularly get parts out on the market for cars that aren't even for sale yet," said John Concialdi, founder and chief engineer of Hawthorne-based AEM Performance, makers of high-performance air intake, headers and electronics. "This market has changed so much in the last five years, it is unbelievable."

The reason for the change? Several big automakers now realize that the aftermarket and their close customers--the gear heads and "tuners" who customize cars--should be thought of as great ambassadors for car brands, not competitors. They drive sales and are unusually influential with new-car buyers.

"When someone in their neighborhood wants to buy a car, they go to the gear head," said Sage Marie, the brand manager of Honda Motor Co. "Everyone from the old lady next door to the father of four down the street will ask this kid about cars. And they'll make their decision based on what he tells them."

This influence is what prodded Honda, and just about every other original equipment manufacturer, or what the industry calls OEMs, to cuddle up to the gear heads. And who knows them better than the aftermarket companies that make the parts they buy and strap to their cars?

Industry gatherings

The aftermarket car business is more or less organized around the Diamond Bar-based Specialty Equipment Market Association, a trade association commonly called SEMA. SEMA has more than 6,000 companies, including Honda, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., as members, as well as traditional aftermarket companies like Concialdi's.

SEMA holds seasonal shows around the country in which tuners can catch the latest from the aftermarket industry, which according to Peter MacGillivray, a spokesman for SEMA, is a $32 billion a year industry.

"This market is seeing about 8 percent growth every year," he said. "It's no longer an underground market, it's everywhere and the smaller, private companies are closer to this market than anyone else. That's why you see the OEMs getting involved more and more."

When OEMs like Honda saw the draw of these SEMA shows, it approached SEMA and began a dialogue about working with the organization. The evolution of this dialogue is a program called a "measuring session" where aftermarket parts makers get to crawl all over a new model before it's even on showroom floors. More than a dozen measuring sessions happen every year and everything from Ford's F-150 to Toyota Motor Co.'s Scion have set tires in one of SEMA's warehouses.

"The measuring sessions are the best way for our engineers and the innovators who design and invent the new products to get together to exchange ideas," Marie said. "It's amazing to watch these guys talk."

Sitting in a corner of Concialdi's shiny floored warehouse is a product of this new relationship: his tricked out, red, 2006 Honda Civic SI.

"Honda was unbelievably cooperative," he said. "The great relationship we have with Honda is the process of several years of working together. It's been an evolution."

The project manager 9f the Civic SI, Mark Parfumi, invited aftermarket gurus like Concialdi from all sectors to come out and get an advanced look at the new Civic. During one of the briefings, Parfumi challenged Concialdi to make a better air intake and exhaust system for the SI than Parfumi and his team at Honda did. So Concialdi got to work and one month later shot out a 460-horsepower, 180 mile per hour version of the Civic.

"We were working on these cars that hadn't even been released yet, it was wild," Concialdi said. "I think the intake on ours is better but Mark disagrees. One thing I know for sure--ours is way faster."

Concialdi's team made the $28,000 car into something a Ferrari would have trouble keeping up with by essentially bolting on everything from headers, an entire exhaust system, a computer and a turbo charger to the existing engine and chassis.

"Honda makes these cars so well they account for what people are going to do to them and they make it easier for tuners to modify them," he marveled. "These Honda motors are pretty damn close to being perfect."

What was truly unusual about these encounters is that months before the car is even released to the public, Honda shared intricate details about the engineering involved in the car, from the suspension to the engine to the electronics, something that was inconceivable less than five years ago in the secretive cloak-and-dagger world of auto manufacturers.

"Companies give these industry leading engineers advanced looks at the product to speed up the development process so they can get their products on the shelves ASAP," MacGillivray said. "What used to take months now takes weeks and a new steering wheel or a new exhaust can be available before the car is even available."

Advance data

Dave Vanzant, a designer at Narco-based Mr. Grille, actually showed up to a measuring session 18 months ago with a grill in hand for Toyota's newest car, the Scion tC, and came just to ensure his latest creation actually fit. A few months prior to the measuring session, Toyota, through a program SEMA calls Tech Transfer, released intricate engineering data to certain manufacturers. Using his 3D CAD software, Vanzant plugged the data in and in a few days had a grill ready to go before the car was even available for the measuring session.

"Giving us the data really helps us get quality stuff on the market quickly," he said. "And companies like Honda realized that only helps the overall image of their car."

More and more aftermarket parts are being sold at dealerships, too. For example, Galpin Auto Sports in North Hills is getting into aftermarket parts. After a dealer sells the car, the dealership can tack on what used to be aftermarket accessories and roll that cost into the financing. MacGillivray said that will provide the next area for growth in the industry.

Honda is also beginning to include Honda-branded tuner parts at some of its dealerships, so a buyer can include the price of customizing into the overall price of the car. In addition to that, Honda unveiled last week a new, sleeker, more tricked out version of its outdoorsy, granola-y Element.

"We found that people were buying the Element, lowering them, putting on new sport suspensions and painting the composite side panels," Marie said. "So now we're introducing an Element that encompasses those characteristics."

Next on the list to be pimped out--the Honda Fit, which is a five person, super compact yet roomy hatchback debuting later this spring. The measuring session is scheduled for mid-May at SEMA and shows the progression of the relationship.

"This didn't happen overnight but it has completely transformed our market. All for the good," MacGillivray said.