Ride-in-Style Podcast: Episode 34 Aron Demers of VOXX Electronics Corporation
Adapting Through Innovation: A Conversation with Aron Demers of VOXX Electronics
When Ride & Style Podcast hosts Jesse Stoddard and Josh Poulson sat down with Aron Demers, the conversation traced three decades of change in the 12-volt aftermarket—from detachable-face radios and mobile video to connected-car ecosystems.
A Lifelong Career in Mobile Electronics
Demers’ journey began in 1989, selling advertising for Mobile Electronic Specialist magazine. That opportunity introduced him to the aftermarket audio world. Soon after, he joined a startup amplifier company in Kansas City and later worked with Acoustic before landing at Audiovox, where he has remained for nearly 30 years.
“I started as a West Coast regional sales manager, went to Kenwood for a short time, and then came back to VOXX,” Demers said. Over time, he rose to senior vice president, overseeing sales, marketing, new product development, and engineering.
From Cassette to CarPlay
Reflecting on industry milestones, Demers described how aftermarket innovators historically stayed one step ahead of OEMs. “We used to upgrade the factory,” he explained. “CD changers, mobile video—none of that existed at the factory level, so expediters and restylers were doing great business.”
Mobile video was once a “caveman pitch,” he joked: Do you want video in your car? Yes. But the balance shifted when Apple CarPlay and factory infotainment systems brought new tech directly into OEM dashboards.
“As soon as CarPlay came out, it revolved around the center stack,” Demers said. “That changed everything—new technologies started going to the OEM first.”
Today, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and connected safety features are major aftermarket opportunities. “Blind-spot systems, backup sensors—consumers still want those, even if OEMs delete them,” he added.
How VOXX Stayed Ahead
Demers detailed how VOXX evolved with each wave of technology—from early CRT overhead video systems and DVD pods to today’s Wi-Fi-enabled seat-back tablet systems. “It’s basically a smart TV for your vehicle,” he said. “You can stream Netflix, Disney Plus—anything on Google Play. And it’s universal, so a restyler can stock one SKU and install it the same day.”
That kind of product agility has defined the company’s aftermarket success. “We always look for the next niche and go all in until OEMs catch up,” he said.
Partnership with Gentex
One of VOXX’s most significant developments came with its acquisition by Gentex Corporation, the OEM supplier known for auto-dimming mirrors and HomeLink.
“Gentex is a technology company—they see trends five to ten years before we do in the aftermarket,” Demers explained. “We’re excited to work with them on ways to connect the home and the vehicle, creating a full ecosystem.”
Looking Ahead: Phone-as-a-Key
Among VOXX’s newest innovations is Phone-as-a-Key, a technology that turns a smartphone into a secure digital key.
“It works like a Tesla,” Demers said. “You can walk up to your car and it knows your phone is there—no key fob needed. You can even share access electronically by time and date for rental or fleet applications.”
The system also integrates remote-start capability, giving installers an additional revenue opportunity. “We can take over the factory starter and add long-range RF remotes for customers who still want that functionality,” he said. The product is expected to launch in summer 2025.
Work-Life Balance in a Connected World
Demers keeps a structured routine: ending workdays around 7 p.m., decompressing on his commute, and spending evenings at home in Florida with his wife and dog. “I try not to look at my phone when I get home,” he said. “Weekends are golf and recharging—then back at it Monday.”
Commitment to SEMA PRO and Industry Collaboration
VOXX has exhibited at SEMA Show for over 25 years. “We’re in the car business—whether it’s wraps, wheels, or electronics, we’re all enthusiasts,” Demers said.
He described how CES once dominated mobile electronics, but SEMA’s broader vehicle ecosystem now attracts VOXX’s core customers. “SEMA brings everything under one roof,” he said. “It’s where restylers and electronics professionals meet.”
Demers also serves on the SEMA PRO Council, helping connect manufacturers with restylers and expediters. “I wanted to understand their challenges—labor shortages, diversification, profitability—and bring that perspective from the mobile electronics world,” he said.
Industry Outlook
Despite tariffs and supply-chain disruptions, Demers remains optimistic. “We’ve been through this before—pre-COVID tariffs, then COVID itself. It’s rinse and repeat,” he said. “But new technologies keep coming. I’m a half-full guy.”
His message to the industry: stay adaptable. “We’re still in a great business with passionate people,” he said. “As long as we keep innovating and supporting each other, the aftermarket will stay strong.”
Read The Transcript
Jesse Stoddard: Welcome to another episode of the Ride and Style podcast. Uh, today we’ve got an incredible guest, Aaron Demurs of Vox Electronics. Hi, Erin. How are you?
Aron Demers: Good, Jesse. How are you?
Jesse Stoddard: I’m excellent, thank you. And with me as usual is Josh. How you doing today, Josh?
Josh: I am live from my backyard because my internet downstairs doesn’t work and my 5G in my basement doesn’t work real well. So, we’re out here live out in the open. So, we’ll see how good the quality is. But, uh, what I do know though, Jesse, is I was excited to have Aaron on because you’re talking to the best hair in 12vt. However, I’m going to ask you right now, Aaron, will you be up for the challenge to go for the best hair of aftermarket? Because there’s a lot of guys in that mix then.
Aron Demers: That that’s that’s a tough one. I got you to follow. I got I got Kobe to follow. There’s some There’s
Josh: No,
Aron Demers: some
Josh: no,
Aron Demers: tough
Josh: no,
Aron Demers: ones.
Josh: no. Kobe, first of all, Kobe’s little curly cues that it and this thing’s a mop. You’re bringing it live with the stream with the with a little bit of gel. So, tell us the secret before we get into business. Is it gel? Is it foam? Is it a little bit of uh what what do you what’s your concoction?
Aron Demers: It’s it’s it’s it’s a little bit of patrone mixed with with with
Josh: Oh,
Aron Demers: gel.
Josh: his favorite. His favorite his
Aron Demers: It
Josh: drink.
Aron Demers: just oozes out of my body.
Josh: Your drink of choice is Patrone with a lime and a Coors Light, right?
Aron Demers: You got it, sir.
Josh: Okay. See,
Aron Demers: It’s like
Josh: nice.
Aron Demers: the first time we’ve done this.
Josh: Yeah, I know. It is. It is the first time. Awesome. Go ahead, Jesse.
Jesse Stoddard: Well, uh why don’t we get started with uh just give us a little bit of background about how you got going in in automotive and aftermarket.
Jesse Stoddard: What was Tell us about your history and and how you got started.
Aron Demers: Yeah, sure. Thanks. So, um, you know, I was, uh, coming out of high school in in 1989 and, um, didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. So um um I I hopped right into um selling products. So my my first job was a um I was in the industry. I was selling advertising for a magazine uh back then called Mobile Electronic Specialist which was a trade magazine. Um and we had a a big brother to that that was our competitors called Installation News and they were the big bad guys on on the block. Um, so this this gentleman gave me an opportunity to to to to make a life for myself and make sales for him. Uh, so I I did real well there. Uh, got a lot of new advertisers, came on board when I was there. Um, and was really proud of the accomplishments I I did there. One of my advertisers was uh was a gentleman by the name of John Phillips and he was working um for a company or running a company back then called Profile Car Stereo.
Aron Demers: They were one of the first companies that came out with a detachable face radio back then. Um, so he was he was buying a amplifier brand from a local distributor uh called car car stereo distributors out of Southern California and he wanted to start his own company in Kansas City where he was from uh and kind of get out of the the you know the big corporate world. Uh so I knew his son his son and I were friends. Um and they said hey do you want to you know get up and move to Kansas City and start this company with us? Uh, and I said, “Sure.” So, you know, I moved there at probably was around 1991. Uh, worked at this small company for a couple years. Got my ears wet from the wholesale side. Uh, and then opportunity came up uh for the next step. It was a company called Acoustic uh back then. They made amplifiers, crossovers. They’re not around anymore, but they were a a pretty well-known brand at at the time, especially on independent specialist side.
Aron Demers: So I worked for them for uh the next couple years. New regime came in and uh we didn’t see eye to eye. So I had an opportunity um to interview for for a job on the west coast being a west coast regional sales manager for a company called Audioox that we probably all all remember. Uh and that was 29 29 years ago and and I haven’t left since. So um I was a West Coast regional with them for about 10 years. um went to uh Kenwood uh for about eight months until um my old boss found me on the back of a a milk carton and said, “Hey, we found you. It’s time to come back.” Uh so he uh he gave me the opportunity to uh be the uh vice president of sales uh and marketing, which was about uh about 20 years ago. So I I was commuted from New York for a few years until my family settled down and got out of school. Uh and then we moved to New York.
Aron Demers: Uh so I was there for about eight years and then um I took the the position of senior vice president um of the whole group. So I run the whole P&L of the group, oversight, new products, uh personnel, um you know, engineering, everything top top to bottom. And 29 years later, here I am.
Josh: And you still have all that hair.
Aron Demers: Still have still have all that hair. It’s just grayed a lot. But um it’s customers like you that that allowed my my hair to gray out. So I thank you for that, Josh.
Josh: You’re welcome. Anytime. Anytime. So, what has been I mean, you look back, that’s obviously a long history. You’ve been in the industry forever. Um, where where have you where have you seen like the challenges? How the industry’s kind of like met the challenge head on and kind of passed through it? I know that might be a lot big question, but maybe you guys personally at box or other things where you thought, man, this is the end of it and then all of a sudden somehow pulled through.
Aron Demers: Yeah, that’s that’s um yeah, I I’ll rewind a little bit and I’ll talk about the industry uh and a little bit of bit of Vox. So, um, on the aftermarket side, we, you know, going going through the years in my early parts of our career, we were we upgraded to factory. Whether the factory didn’t come with a a certain technology or a certain feature, we were able to either sell that at the uh through the new car dealer side or at retail depending on um, you know, how that that product applied and what what vehicle year, make, and model you were dealing with. Um, so we always had a a leg up on the the OEMs. Um, if you look back at CD changers, you know, or even a CD player, you know, we went from a from a a a two shaft radio to a D radio um to a CD changer, and that wasn’t a factory option at the time. So the expediters or restylers, you know, had were really kind of hitting it pretty good high in the hog back in those days before the OEMs caught up to the aftermarket.
Aron Demers: And mobile video was a was a good example of that. You know, back in the um you know, late 90s when mobile video came out, that wasn’t a factory option. And and you were around then, Josh, probably uh probably uh still installing back back then. Uh but uh mobile video was a big boom for you know the the aftermarket world as well as the expediter world and it was a really easy pitch at the new car dealer level and as as you guys know um at the card dealer when you’re if if it’s not a preload type of product you’re really relying on either the salesperson on the floor or the FNI manager to make that that pitch. Uh so back then it was it was real easy. We call it a caveman pitch. Do you want video in your car? Yes. That that’s how long the conversation went. Uh and it was a pretty easy sale. Everybody understood it. Everybody got it. Obviously
Josh: And here
Aron Demers: video
Josh: and here I thought I was a great salesman, but you’re absolutely right. It was like, “Oh, you have that.
Aron Demers: 100%. It was uh it it wasn’t as as difficult as it as it is today. Um, but then of course you look at where video is and standard in a lot of vehicles, not all of them. We still have opportunities. You still sell some of my products through that channel as well as some of the other restylers and expediters uh through the country, but we were always first before OEM. And really when you started seeing um things change, it was with CarPlay. Um, so if you recall, you know, CarPlay, we always had ox inputs and different devices to get a iPod or an iPhone uh into a vehicle back then. Whether it was a um, you know, like a dice type product or a vase type of product to to integrate through uh, through USB, you could bring these other features in. But then CarPlay came out and it all revolved around the center stack.
Aron Demers: And the OEMs took it upon themselves to make that a standard feature, and that’s when you started seeing a real decline in head unit replacement. You know, it wasn’t just the decline of double-DIN radios because of the way they were integrated; it was because that big feature everyone wanted — navigation and CarPlay — became built-in. That changed the whole game for a lot of aftermarket companies.
Josh: Yeah, absolutely. Once it was built in, people stopped asking for it.
Aron Demers: Exactly. And that’s when a lot of companies had to reinvent themselves. Some did it well, some didn’t survive. At Vox, we had to make that pivot too — that’s when we really started focusing more on the OEM integration side. We realized we couldn’t just sell around the OEM anymore; we had to work with them. That’s when products like our backup cameras, security systems, and rear-seat entertainment became critical because those were still opportunities even after CarPlay took over the dash.
Jesse Stoddard: Makes sense. You adapted instead of trying to fight the change.
Aron Demers: Exactly. You can’t fight technology. You have to evolve with it. And honestly, that’s something Vox has done pretty well. We’ve always kept a foot in both worlds — retail and OEM. Even now, we’re doing a lot with fleet and safety solutions that are more about the connected vehicle than the traditional aftermarket stereo world.
Josh: Yeah, that’s where the industry’s heading anyway — everything’s data-driven and integrated.
Aron Demers: Absolutely. And one of the cool things is how far we’ve come in vehicle safety and connectivity. When I started, we were wiring in keyless entry systems with relays and resistors. Now we’re talking about CAN integration, AI cameras, and driver-assist systems that rival OEM tech. The installer skills have to be sharper than ever, but the opportunities are still there.
Jesse Stoddard: Do you think there’s still room for small shops in that new landscape?
Aron Demers: Definitely. I think the small guys who stay educated and evolve are going to keep thriving. The key is training — staying up to date with new vehicle tech, networking at shows like SEMA, and aligning with strong partners. The demand for customization and aftermarket upgrades is never going away. It’s just shifting.
Josh: That’s what we tell our guys too — it’s about finding your lane and owning it.
Aron Demers: Couldn’t agree more.
Jesse Stoddard: I like what you said about training — that’s such an underrated point. A lot of people talk about products or sales, but not enough about education and staying current.
Aron Demers: Totally. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in training our dealers and installers. Technology moves so fast now that if you’re not staying current, you’re falling behind every six months. When we release new products, we don’t just hand someone a manual — we do webinars, in-person demos, and work closely with distributors to make sure everyone knows how to install and sell effectively.
Josh: Yeah, I remember back in the day, we had to figure things out by trial and error. Now, with how complex vehicles have become, that’s not really an option anymore.
Aron Demers: Right. Cars now have more electronics than some airplanes. One wrong wire tap and you’re taking down a CAN bus. That’s why training is non-negotiable.
Jesse Stoddard: Speaking of that — what’s the next big thing you see coming in the aftermarket industry?
Aron Demers: Great question. I think we’re going to see a lot more around connected vehicles and safety tech. Think driver assistance, dash cams with AI, fleet monitoring, even integration with insurance. The aftermarket will play a huge role in retrofitting older vehicles with modern tech. We’re already seeing it in fleet and consumer demand.
Josh: That’s interesting — like giving new life to existing cars instead of always buying new.
Aron Demers: Exactly. Not everyone can afford a brand-new vehicle, but they still want modern safety and convenience. That’s where we come in — and where shops can make great margins.
Jesse Stoddard: That’s a really positive way to look at it.
Aron Demers: Yeah, there’s a lot of doom and gloom talk, but honestly, there’s plenty of opportunity. You just have to keep adapting.
Josh: I like that. So before we wrap up, I have to ask — how does it feel to have been with one company for nearly three decades? That’s almost unheard of these days.
Aron Demers: (laughs) Yeah, I get that a lot. Honestly, it’s been a great ride. I’ve had the opportunity to work with incredible people, grow within the company, and see the industry evolve firsthand. It doesn’t feel like 29 years. Every year brings something new.
Jesse Stoddard: That says a lot about both you and the company culture.
Aron Demers: Yeah, Vox has always treated its people well. It’s a family-driven culture, and even though we’re a big corporation, we’ve managed to keep that small-company feel in a lot of ways.
Josh: That’s awesome.
Jesse Stoddard: Before we close, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to people just getting started in the automotive aftermarket industry?
Aron Demers: That’s a great question. I’d say — be passionate and stay curious. This industry is built on passion. Whether you’re a salesperson, installer, or marketing rep, you’ve got to love what you do. And the second part is — never stop learning. Cars, tech, and consumer expectations evolve constantly. The people who stay curious, humble, and willing to adapt are the ones who build long careers here.
Josh: That’s gold. That’s so true — it’s about attitude as much as skill.
Aron Demers: Exactly. You can teach someone how to wire up a system or sell a product, but you can’t teach passion. If you love this industry, the rest falls into place.
Jesse Stoddard: That’s a perfect note to end on. Aaron, thank you so much for joining us — it’s been a great conversation.
Aron Demers: Thank you guys for having me. It’s always a pleasure to talk shop and catch up.
Josh: Yeah, thanks, Aaron. Hopefully we’ll see you soon — maybe at SEMA or another show.
Aron Demers: You know it. I’ll be there.
Jesse Stoddard: Awesome. Thanks again, everyone, for tuning in to another episode of the Ride-In-Style Podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, and we’ll see you next time.
