Asahi Glass Will Further Cut North America Output, Nikkei Says

By Masaki Kondo

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Asahi Glass Co. will trim production in North America by 25 percent in October as car sales slow, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Asahi Glass, which earlier cut North American output by 10 percent, plans to hold production at the lower level through the end of this year, Nikkei reported today, without saying where it obtained the information. The company has plants in Kentucky and Ohio with capacity to turn out glass for 4 million cars annually, the newspaper said.

Tokyo-based Asahi Glass sells two-thirds of its auto glass made in North America to Japanese car manufacturers, with the rest going to U.S. automakers including General Motors Corp., the report said.

A telephone call to Asahi Glass wasn't answered.

To contact the reporters on this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net