Autolite
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| Division of UCI-FRAM AutoBrands | |
| Predecessor | Electric Autolite Company |
| Founded | 1911 |
| Headquarters | Lake Forest, Illinois, United States |
| Parent | FRAM Group, LLC |
| Website | http://www.autolite.com |
Autolite or Auto-Lite is an American brand of spark plugs and ignition wire sets. Autolite products are sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and as of 2015 are now sold in Australia. Until 2011, the Autolite brand was a part of Honeywell's Automotive Consumer Products Group, along with Fram and Prestone. Since then, it has been manufactured and marketed by FRAM Group, LLC, which is a constituent company of Auckland, New Zealand-based investment firm Rank Group. Autolite has been the Official Spark Plug of NASCAR since April 2000.
The origins of Autolite can be traced to 1911, when Electric Autolite was founded. The company produced a generator to power early day auto lamps or buggy lamps. In 1927, Electric Autolite acquired the Prest-O-Lite Battery Company from The Union Carbide Corporation which produced automotive batteries. In 1935, Royce G. Martin, President of the Electric Autolite Company, decided that the company should enter the business of manufacturing spark plugs. Robert Twells, a ceramic engineer, led the development team. A few months later, the company was selling their first spark plug. Electric Autolite's products were expanded further to include: Starting Motors, Generators, Regulators, Ignition Systems, Wire and Cable Products. Autolite enjoyed instant success, as it had secured supply contracts with leading car manufacturers such as Chrysler, Studebaker, Packard, and Willys.
In a 1940 promotional film, Autolite featured stop motion animation of its products marching past Autolite factories to the tune of Franz Schubert's Military March. An abbreviated version of this sequence was later used in television ads for Autolite, especially those on the 1950s CBS program Suspense, which Autolite sponsored. (Autolite had sponsored the earlier radio program.)
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