Japanese textiles manufacturer Toray Industries said yesterday that it was to jointly develop carbon fibre car parts with German car manufacturer Daimler AG. According to a Reuters news report the parts will be used in Daimler's Mercedes-Benz cars from 2012.

The first cars to use the new carbon fibre reinforced plastic composite materials will be the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, with carbon fibre for the parts being produced at Toray's plant in France, the report said.

“This is the first time that Toray, the world's biggest maker of carbon fibre with a global market share of 34 percent, is developing carbon fibre car parts. The company has supplied carbon yarn for Ferrari's sports cars,” company spokesperson Yoshitaka Yamagata told Reuters.

According to the report, carbon fibre for use in cars accounted for an estimated 7 billion to 8 billion yen ($86 million) of Toray's revenue which is estimated at 1.35 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, the report said.