PARIS -- Saint-Gobain has announced the construction of its second automotive glass plant in the Shandong province of Qingdao, close to the division’s flat glass production site in the region.

The company is investing roughly $71 million in the project, which will be implemented in three phases between now and 2014. The first manufacturing line will come on stream mid-2012.

Saint-Gobain's Automotive Glass Business, Sekurit, is the third largest manufacturer of automotive glass in China, according to the company.

As the market grows, the plant will gradually increase its production capacity and be able to supply, from 2014 on, all glass car-sets to equip 1.5 million vehicles a year, doubling Saint-Gobain Sekurit's current production capacity in China.

Saint-Gobain says this investment in China marks a new step in the group's growth strategy in Asia and emerging countries where the flat glass activity is aiming to achieve 45 percent of its turnover by 2015, compared to 41.5 percent in 2010. The company plans to earmark two thirds of its capital expenditures in this region in the next five years.