Hyundai Motors has announced that it will build two factories in China, its first brand new manufacturing plants since 2012.
The South Korean automaker is looking to bet on growth in the world's biggest auto market even as the economy slows down, according to Reuters.
The company confirmed on Tuesday that the factories, which will start production no later than 2016 and 2017, would help it compete with rivals like Volkswagen and General Motors. Affiliate Kia Motors Corp also announced that it would expand capacity at one of its three Jiangsu province factories, up from 300,000 now to 450,000 vehicles by 2016.
Hyundai and Kia both declined to give a value for the investments, though Hyundai said the factories, which are capable of producing 300,000 vehicles each, would help both automakers maintain their market share in China of over 10 percent.
The two automakers are expecting to have a combined China production capacity of 2.7 million passenger and commercial vehicles in around 3 to 4 years.
Hyundai and Kia's expansion plans were announced just days after executives at Toyota confirmed to Reuters that the Japanese automaker will most likely miss its 2014 target due to a faster-than-expected economic slowdown.
The plans also mean that the two automakers are easing an unofficial moratorium on capacity growth imposed in 2012 by Chairman Chung Mong-koo due to quality concerns.
Construction of Hyundai's Hebei province plant, which will be located in city of Changzhou, will start sometime in the second quarter of 2015. The factory will produce small vehicles by the second half of 2016 and production is expected to reach full capacity by 2018.
Construction on the Chongqing plant, which is expected to make small and mid-sized vehicles in the first half of 2017, will start in the third quarter of 2015.
Hyundai has three factories in China currently, according to its company website
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