Europe's top antitrust watchdog accused Asahi, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Soliver of dividing up the European market for car glass among themselves and sharing trade secrets between 1998 and 2003.

'These companies cheated the car industry and car buyers for five years in a market worth two billion euros in the last year of the cartel,' EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.

'The commission has imposed such high fines because it cannot and will not tolerate such illegal behaviour,' she added.

The commission hit Saint-Gobain of France with the biggest EU fine ever in a cartel case, ordering the company to cough up 896 million euros after ramping up its penalty by 60 per cent because it is a repeat offender.

British glass company Pilkington was told to pay 370 million euros while Japan's Asahi had to pay 113.5 million euros after its fine was reduced by half because it cooperated with the investigation.

Belgian company Soliver was fined 4.4 million euros.

In reaction, Saint-Gobain vowed to appeal the decision, describing its fine as 'excessive and disproportionate.'

EU regulators began investigating the cartel on information from an anonymous tip and uncovered evidence that officials from the companies had met in airports and hotels in Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels to share sensitive information illegally.

Until Wednesday, the biggest fine the commission had ever levied in a cartel case was a 992 million euro penalty on lift makers Otis, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp and Kone in Feb 2007.

The commission has made a top priority of breaking up cartels and with Wednesday's decision has levied fines worth 2.3 billion euros in seven cases so far this year.

Last year, Brussels set a record with fines totalling 3.3 billion euros - money which goes into the EU budget.

'Every euro paid in fines is one euro less that the member states have to pay (into the budget) and so ultimately taxpayers benefit,' Ms Kroes said.

'That, however, is scant consolation to the car manufacturers and millions of households affected by this cartel,' she added. -- AFP