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LOS ANGELES -- Get a good look at the new Chevrolet HHR -- because you might not recognize it the next time you see it.

General Motors expects the small sport-utility vehicle, launching in August and priced at $16,000 to $23,000, to become its most accessorized vehicle ever.

If all goes as planned, owners will want to clamp on so many of their own spoilers, running boards, stereos -- maybe even entire front ends -- that HHRs could become rolling advertisements for self- expression.

"We would love this to become the accessories poster child," said Lori Queen, the engineering executive in charge of GM's small cars.

GM's interest in customizing HHR even before it hits showrooms underscores how automakers are seizing on the accessories business as both a financial and creative salvation in a world of mostly bland cars.

In looking to spruce up HHR, GM is borrowing a page from the recent playbook for launching vehicles such as Ford's Mustang and F- 150 pickup, DaimlerChrysler's PT Cruiser and Toyota's Scion line. All have been getting the full treatment from accessories vendors.

"We're seeing increasing numbers of [manufacturers] understanding that personalization and customization sell brand-new cars and trucks," said Peter MacGillivray, vice president of the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which produces the leading aftermarket trade show every year.

When Ford let customizers get hold of advance versions of its hottest new vehicles, accessories makers already had about 150 custom parts ready for the F-150 two years ago and 100 for the Mustang last year, MacGillivray said.

GM saw the power of the accessories market with its Hummer H2. Buyers of the monster SUV have added about $4,000 in accessories per vehicle, more than double what had been projected.

GM's own accessories group has been growing at a 40 percent clip each of the past three years. The number of custom parts being commissioned from suppliers has tripled.

HHR might need the boost. It looks much like the PT Cruiser at a time when hoopla about the retro-styled sport wagon has died down. Although then-GM North America chief Gary Cowger predicted in January that Chevrolet could sell from 80,000 to 100,000 HHRs a year, the company now expects sales of about 60,000, Automotive News reported last week. Queen denies sales projections were revised downward.

To fan the accessories flame, GM has commissioned several hot- rod shops to create custom versions of the HHR even before it hits the streets. Five were shown to the press Wednesday at GM's design center outside Los Angeles.

Besides its shapely skin, the HHR is well-suited to customizing because it has lots of cubbyholes and other storage spaces.

One test car had an audio system from Boston Acoustics that fit exactly into a well space in the rear. The pop-up dashboard box was the perfect place to install extra gauges and performance controls.

From there, GM is looking at different grilles, colored interior inserts, a dark chrome in addition to the regular shiny chrome -- the list goes on.

"We're getting young kids that like this better than the PT [Cruiser]," Ray Newton of PTeazer, a customization shop in Huntington Beach, Calif., said about the HHR. "We're going to jump into making parts for this vehicle."

As if to prove his point, his shop created its own customized tailgate-party HHR version, complete with a blender and a pair of hanging stereo speakers disguised as racing helmets.

"You can do all sorts of things with it," said Clay Dean, GM's design director for small and midsize cars.

Gannett News Service