Japan's Asahi Glass Co., Ltd, a global giant maker of automotive glass, has kicked off the operation of its wholly-owned facility in Foshan, Guangdong province, reported Guangzhou Daily yesterday. The Asahi Glass plant, its second in China, will supply for Japan's auto joint ventures in the southern Chinese province.

Asahi Auto Glass (Foshan) Co., Ltd., whose construction started in early 2007, will produce the laminated and tempered automotive glass. The facility can reach an annual output of 1 million car sets after its operation started in mid-August this year, and will conveniently supply for the auto glass demands of three major Japanese carmakers for their Guangdong-based joint ventures: Guangzhou Honda, Guangzhou Toyota, and Dongfeng Nissan.

Following a 1995 capital tie-up with an automotive glass firm in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province -- the present AGC Automotive (China) Co., Ltd. -- Asahi Glass made the local firm a wholly owned subsidiary in 2003, and has increased its production capacity to about 1.2 million car sets annually.

The launch of its new Foshan plant, which was built with the auto glass maker¡¯s investment of $44 million, should make it possible for Asahi Glass to establish a supply system for about 2.2 million car sets in total each year in China.

Asahi Glass currently holds 30% of the world market share for automotive glass and its glass products are used by more than 90% of global carmakers. The Japanese auto glass company is one of the world's top 500 enterprises.