TOKYO - DuPont announced plans to build a $10-million automotive-coatings laboratory in Japan to facilitate technical approvals for coatings used by Japanese auto manufacturers worldwide and to support auto-assembly operations. The new facility, in Aichi Prefecture, will open in the third quarter of 2005 and will employ approximately 30 technical people.

The laboratory will be built by DuPont and will be operated by DuPont Shinto Automotive Systems, a joint venture of DuPont and Shinto Paint Co. of Japan. Marty M. McQuade, vice president and general manager of DuPont Automotive Systems, said the new laboratory will supplement a network of DuPont technical facilities located in the Americas, Asia and Europe that serves the company's expanding coatings business with Japanese auto manufacturers.