The production of auto parts continued its strong rebound in September as shown by the Industrial Production Index of Auto Parts and Allied Goods. This index measures the quantity produced compared to a base year, in this case 2012. In September, production was at 139.8, which means that almost 40% more auto parts were produced in September compared to 2012.

This production does not distinguish between OEM auto parts intended for new car production or auto parts intended for the aftermarket. Some of the increase is to make up for the shortfall in the spring, when production was cut in half. Some of the increase is to supply the strong bounce-back in new car sales, which we looked at two weeks ago.

The Industrial production data comes from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as reported by the St. Louis Fed.