North American car battery shipments edge up in November:Reuters

North American shipments of replacement automotive batteries edged up 0.58 per cent in November from October and jumped 14.86 percent from year-ago levels, a U.S. industry group said in its latest report, according to Reuters.

The Battery Council International reported November shipments increased to 9,485,093 units from 9,430,662 units in October, and were up from 8,257,885 units in November 2009.

For the year through November, replacement battery shipments rose 6.35 per cent to 95,719,117 units from 90,000,798 units for the first 11 months of 2009.

North American shipments of original equipment automotive batteries in November fell by 6.94 percent to 1,141,909 units from 1,227,101 units in October, BCI said.

Year-on-year, shipments increased 4.73 per cent from 1,090,348 units in November 2009.

In the January-to-November period, original equipment battery shipments surged 32.14 per cent to 12,889,397 units from 9,754,025 units shipped during the same period in 2009.

Replacement batteries are shipped to parts dealers and wholesalers. Original equipment batteries are usually transported directly to auto manufacturers.