Champion batteries can be found on the shelves of any large auto parts store, and you’ve probably who’s making them. They seem like a good deal, with an affordable price for their power capacity, but you’re just not sure if they’re worth investing in.
Champion batteries are made by Clarios, a subsidiary of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. Prior to 2019 the production facility was in the ownership of Johnson Controls International.
The moves made by multinational corporations can be very hard to follow and ultimately not as important for the end-user. Still, we’re going to talk about all the pieces that come together to create Champion batteries, and then see whether they’re any good.
Champion, also known as Champion spark plugs or Champion ignition is an American brand founded by Albert Champion in 1905. As the alternate names imply, the company focused on the production of spark plugs.
Champion spark plugs made their way into the Ford Model T in 1908. The venture into the aviation field proved successful as the Bell P59 jet fighter and Concorde used Champion igniters.
In 1978, the Renault Alpine A442 sports car wins the Le Mans on Champion spark plugs. The records were also broken when the Thrust 2 vehicle broke the land speed record in 1984.
Lately, Champion has been providing spark plugs for the F1 application, taking a small part in the victories of Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.
Car batteries did not come into the picture until much later, when Cooper Industries, a subsidiary of Federal-Mogul Corporation bought out Champion in the late 90s.
The hours I’ve spent researching the answer to this question have only led me to more questions. The corporate trades, merges, restructurings, and rebrandings make it near-impossible to track the ownership of any small subsidiary, and that’s exactly the case here.
Champion has been under the Federal-Mogul Corporation’s umbrella since the late 90s. However, there are conflicting sources on how this happened.
Our best source of information would be Wikipedia, where it’s stated that Cooper Industries bought Champion in 1989. The problem is that the Federal-Mogul page states that the company bought out Cooper Industries, Champion, MOOG chassis, and a couple of other brands in 1998.
No matter what answer is correct, we know that Champion is owned by Federal-Mogul.
I had to separate the ownership of Champion from the battery manufacturer, as the two are not linked. Champion was originally just an ignition parts manufacturer, with the addition of wiper blades in the 90s.
It’s not clear when Champion delved into the battery business, but the products were made by Johnson Controls.
Johnson Controls bought a battery company called Globe-Union in 1978. The critical information is that their lead-acid battery production supplied some of the best-known brands like Continental, OPTIMA, Heliar, LTH, Delkor, and VARTA, placing Champion batteries in a very good company.
The power solutions unit was sold to Brookfield Business Partners on the 1st of May, 2019, and was subsequently renamed Clarios.
Clarios, a subsidiary of Brookfield Business Partners is a global giant in the power-supply industry. It has over 50 facilities and 16,000 employees worldwide, and its products can be found in 33% of all cars in the world.
The regional brands of Clarios are:
Champion batteries are not mentioned, but we know they are produced by Clarios. It makes sense for Clarios not to promote Champion batteries, as they’re a direct competitor, and revealing that they’re possibly on the same level as OPTIMA batteries could be detrimental to their own sales.
By cross-referencing the list of regional headquarters with the “made-in” sticker on the Champion battery, we can determine with a dose of certainty where they are made.
I’ve had a lot of first-hand experience with both premium and less-known brands. What I’ve discovered is that there are only two things that matter: specification, and warranty. The battery needs to fulfill the amperage and cold-crank amperage requirements of your vehicle.
If your vehicle runs on gasoline, you’ll find a suitable battery easily, but if you’re running on diesel, you need to be careful with cheaper batteries, as you’ll often find large-capacity batteries that do not satisfy the cold crank amperage requirement.
So why is warranty so important? As we all know, batteries are an expendable product, and at a certain point, they certainly fail. When this happens, the driver is left in an unfavorable position, where they need to either jump-start their car or call AAA.
The best way to prevent that from happening is to buy a battery with a long warranty period. Battery manufacturers are among the best in terms of creating products that will actually last longer than the warranty, so you can be sure that a battery is going to last 2-4 years, as promised.
Based on the previous sections, we can discern that Champion batteries are a solid option.
I cannot say with certainty, but it’s likely that Champion batteries are made to the same standard as other batteries coming from the same Clarios facility – and equal to OPTIMA, LTH, or VARTA for example.
Then, we have a wide range of options to cover most cars, SUVs, and trucks. Lastly, there’s the warranty – 30 or 36 months on the standard batteries, and 48 months on the AGM batteries, which is comparable to guarantees provided by the premium brands.
Combine it all with a price that is cheaper than premium brands, and it’s clear why Champion batteries can be an excellent choice.
Champion batteries are available in larger auto parts supply chains. These are just a few of many Champion product suppliers:
The Champion AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) batteries are very good and a more durable option than the standard flooded batteries. As they come with a 4-year warranty, there’s no doubt they’re going to run reliability for a long time.
As we’ve discovered in this article, some of the best batteries in the business like Optima are likely built in the same facility as Champion batteries, making it very difficult to say which brand is the best.
If you asked me before I’ve done the research for this article, I would have said, Bosch, followed by Optima and Varta, but now, I would have to strongly consider Champion as a solid option.
The lifespan of a battery depends on your driving habits, the climate you’re living in, and whether you’ve repeatedly drained it. There’s no real way to tell how long Champion batteries will last, but I strongly believe they’ll last at least as long as their warranty states.
Bosch batteries are made by Exide Technologies, one of the leading companies in the battery industry.
From what I can gather, Diehard batteries are made by Clarios, just like Champion batteries.
AGM stands for Absorbent Glass Matt which is a new way of building lead-acid batteries. They’re more resistant to vibrations, fully sealed, maintenance-free, and cannot spill or overflow.
If your car can consistently start on “half a turn” of the ignition, then there’s no need to swap the battery even if it’s 4 years old. It’s only when you start experiencing ignition whine as the starter struggles to crank the engine that you should test and swap the battery if necessary.
Champion batteries are now made by Clarios, a company responsible for one-third of the entire battery production.
We can’t know for sure if Champion batteries are built to the same level of quality as other Clarios-built batteries such as VARTA or Optima, but I would be confident in my purchase of a Champion battery nonetheless.
