The automaker changed its plan to build one factory to two factories due to the Chinese government requesting it to build one in Hebei. (Photo : Reuters)
Dongfeng Yueda Kia Automobile Co., Kia Motors' three-way joint venture in China, targets to increase their annual sales by 16 percent to 750,000 vehicles in 2015.
The partnership sold 646,000 vehicles in 2014, an 18-percent increase from 2013.
The joint venture's third assembly plant in Yancheng was established in Jan. 2014. After it reached its full capacity of 300,000 vehicles, the assembly plant will increase its total annual production capacity to 920,000 vehicles.
Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., Kia's corporate parent, expects its annual sales growth to decrease in 2015 because of capacity constraints.
The car company also aims to sell 1,160,000 million vehicles in China this year, 4 percent higher than in 2014.
Beijing Hyundai also plans to build two assembly plants this year to increase their sales.
The two plants--one to be built in the north China city of Cangzhou and the other in the southwest China municipality of Chongqing--will each produce up to 300,000 vehicles a year at full capacity, Auto News China reported.
Hyundai said that the factories, which will start production in 2016 and 2017, would help it better compete with rivals, including Volkswagen and General Motors.
Affiliate Kia Motors Corp. also said that it would expand capacity at one of its three Jiangsu Province factories to up to 450,000 vehicles by 2016 from 300,000 now.
The automaker had initially planned to build just one plant in southwestern Chongqing to tap demand in that part of the country. However, it doubled this number after the Chinese government requested Hyundai to build a plant in northeastern Hebei Province as part of a development plan for the area.
Beijing Hyundai already has three plants in Beijing that are producing 1,050,000 vehicles annually.
