AAPEX 2026 Adds Entertaining ‘Activations’ to Enhance Attendee Experience

LAS VEGAS, NV — The Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) has announced several new activations attendees will see at this year's show, interactive exhibits designed to encourage participation and add entertainment to the event. They include daily prize giveaways: on Tuesday and Wednesday one winner can choose a Rolex luxury watch package or two tickets to Super Bowl LXI, the Masters Tournament or a premier European football match, including airfare and hotel, and on Thursday the show is giving away a brand-new Ford F-150. Winners are selected at random and announced through the AAPEX mobile app at 6 p.m. local time each day.

Other activations include the Roadside Attractions vignette with lounge seating and celebrity guest photo ops, a NASCAR simulator awarding two tickets to any NASCAR event to the best time each day, live illustration of show-floor mini sessions, and two automotive-themed escape rooms near Joe's Garage, one with a repair shop theme and one themed on an auto parts factory. The Optimum Shop edutainment game challenges attendees to run a game-based repair shop, while the Part Art Lounge has two artists racing to create mixed-media murals from donated auto parts, later auctioned for the University of the Aftermarket Foundation.

About a half-dozen famous film and TV cars will be on display, including KITT from Knight Rider, the Ford Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch, the pink Chevy Corvette from Barbie, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the Mercury Cougar XR-7 from From Dusk Till Dawn, the Dodge Charger R/T from Fast and Furious and the AMC Pacer from Wayne's World. The AAPEX 2026 mobile app adds turn-by-turn directions to exhibitor booths. AAPEX is co-produced by MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers and the Auto Care Association. (summary body)