The world's largest producer of carbon fibre, Toray Industries (Tokyo / Japan; www.toray.com) has purchased a 20% stake in the US-based Plasan Carbon Composites (PCC, Wixom, Michigan; www.plasancarbon.com), a manufacturer and distributor of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) for automobile parts. Thus, the Japanese manufacturer with an 18,000 t/y capacity of carbon fibre has now officially signalled its strategy to expand its carbon fibre composites material business into the North American automotive industry.

Plasan Carbon has two Michigan facilities in Wixom – north of Detroit – and Walker as well as a Bennington / Vermont site, which is a subsidiary of Israeli defence contractor Plasan Sasa (Kibbutz Sasa; www.plasansasa.com). According to PCC, it is the sole tier supplier of CFPR-based exterior panels for performance and luxury vehicles in the US. It has been utilising Toray Composite's rapid curing, thermoset-resin prepregs for its high-speed pressure press moulding. As a new minority owner of PCC, the Japanese company can now call upon its own distribution channel to US auto manufacturers and can establish a local manufacturing and development base for CFRP automotive parts in North America, thus closing the loop on a comprehensive supply chain.