Champion: More Than a Century of Spark Plugs

History

The Champion Spark Plug Company was founded on 10 June 1905 in Boston, Massachusetts, by the French-born racing driver Albert Champion together with brothers Spencer U. and Frank D. Stranahan. Albert Champion had already built a reputation in early motor racing and bicycle racing before turning to spark plug manufacturing, and the young company relocated its operations to Toledo, Ohio, in 1910, which remained Champion's headquarters for most of the 20th century. Champion grew alongside the American automotive industry, becoming one of the best-known spark plug suppliers to both car manufacturers and independent workshops. In 1989 the company was purchased by Cooper Industries, an American diversified manufacturer that had built up a portfolio of automotive aftermarket brands. In 1998, Federal-Mogul Corporation acquired Cooper Industries' automotive aftermarket businesses — including Champion — for roughly 1.9 billion US dollars, bringing the brand into the Federal-Mogul stable alongside names such as Ferodo and Moog. Federal-Mogul was in turn acquired by Tenneco in 2018, and Champion today sits within DRiV, the aftermarket and ride-performance business that Tenneco separated out in 2022; Tenneco itself was taken private by the investment firm Apollo Global Management the same year.

What they make

Champion's founding and enduring core product is the spark plug, covering gasoline engines across passenger cars, motorcycles, marine engines and small equipment, and — where relevant to modern engines — glow plugs for diesel applications. Depending on the market, the brand's range has also extended over the decades into related ignition and maintenance parts, including ignition leads and coils, as well as wiper blades, and in some regions filters and lighting products, reflecting the broader aftermarket portfolio that Federal-Mogul and later DRiV built around the name.

Where they fit — OE vs aftermarket

Champion has long supplied spark plugs as original equipment to vehicle manufacturers in addition to selling under its own name through the independent aftermarket, a dual role typical of the older ignition-parts brands that trace back to the first decades of the automobile. Within DRiV's portfolio, Champion functions primarily as an ignition and engine-maintenance brand, distinct from DRiV's braking brands (Ferodo, Textar) or chassis brands (Moog, Monroe).

Buying guidance

Spark plugs must be matched precisely to the engine's specification — thread size, reach, heat range and electrode type all vary by engine, and an incorrect plug can cause poor running, fouling or, in more serious cases, engine damage. Always cross-reference by the vehicle manufacturer's part number or by Champion's own reference lookup rather than by plug type alone, and replace the full set together rather than a single cylinder, since spark plugs wear over comparable intervals across an engine's cylinders.