When the Exatec joint venture was set up last year by Bayer AG (D-51368 Leverkusen) and General Electric Plastics (Europe: GE Plastics BV, NL-4600 AC Bergen op Zoom), it had a number of particularly ambitious aims. The idea – no less – was to replace glass windows in cars with hard-coated polycarbonate. Recently, things with Exatec – which comprises the US company Exatec, LLC (31220 Oak Creek Drive, Wixom, MI 48393 USA) and the European company Exatec GmbH & Co. KG (Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse, 51429 Bergisch-Gladbach) – have been fairly quiet, but the big plans remain. At its new website (www.exatec.de), the company provides detailed information of its organisational structure, locations, market potential of PC automotive glazing and the firm´s development strategy.

Product and systems development is concentrating mainly on the rear and side windows, with the project consisting of three different stages. Starting with the creation of a basic “substitute for glass”, the next stage is to develop windows with integrated functions and moulded-on connections. Finally, the aim is to produce complete body panels, in which not only transparent areas of PC, but also other elements such as ventilator grilles, lamp housings and wheel-arch covers can be integrated by multi-component injection moulding. According to Exatec, modules of this kind will be ready for the market in the next ten years.

A company spokeswoman was unable at this stage to tell Plasteurope.com anything about concrete projects, except to say that Exatec was currently holding intensive discussions with many international car manufacturers. Concrete cooperation agreements will, at the latest, be presented at the IAA in the autumn. A new development and technology centre in Wixom is to be inaugurated in the first half of the year, and the pilot production line with a capacity of 1.6m windows is scheduled to be ready by the year 2002.