Beijing Hyundai Motor Company, a 50-50 joint venture between Hyundai Motor and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company held a ground-breaking ceremony for a 400,000 unit per year plant on November 28 in Shunyi, Beijing. The new plant is scheduled to be completed by July 2012 and combined with its two existing plants which roll out up to 300,000 units each, Hyundai will be capable of producing up to one million units in China by 2012.

The ceremony was attended by about 700 guests, including other Hyundai Motor executives and Chinese government officials, including Jia Qinglin, chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference.

BHMC expects this year's sales to exceed its target of 690,000 which is already beyond its annual capacity of 600,000, while cumulative sales may surpass 2.5 million units. The plant will be built on a site covering 1.6 million square meters, while the plant will have a floor space of 300,000 square meters, featuring vehicle production facilities such as stamping, welding, painting, assembly and module lines, as well as engine production facilities.

Hyundai established BHMC in 2002, opening its first plant in China. It added a second factory in 2008, doubling its annual production capacity to 600,000 units. So far this year, as of the end of October, BHMC has sold 569,787 units.

Financial terms of the deal have not been revealed.