NGK Spark Plug makes pivot to car battery business

NKG Spark Plug Co will soon switch business to solid state battery. The world's largest spark plug manufacturer said it had planned to pivot as an adaptation to the era of electric vehicles. The company sees the future no longer dependent on the spark plug technology commonly used by traditional vehicles.

NGK Spark Plug announced it has devised plans to switch to electric vehicle business. The Nagoya-based company has for many years been a global spark plug manufacturer where today they see the future no longer using a combustion engine that requires spark plugs.

The company says conventional combustion engines have dominated the transportation world for 150 years, but in the next few years and some state rules that force manufacturers to make electric vehicles have ended the era of gasoline-fueled vehicles.

"This industry is in motion that makes our business obsolete," said Takio Kojima, general manager of engineering and R&D at NGK Spark Plug.

The company, founded in 1936, has predicted the death of the spark plug manufacturer since 2010 when Nissan Motor Co. launched the Leaf as the first mass-produced electric vehicle. Elon Musk founded Tesla and increasingly emphasized the sign of the changing times.

Other automotive component suppliers are also scrambling to remodel the product portfolio. Denso Co. as a manufacturer of spark plugs, compressors and motor vehicle filters has teamed up with Toyota Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Co. to develop electric car batteries.