Beijing Hyundai, a 50-50 joint venture between Hyundai and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., will begin building its fourth and fifth plants in China next year to respond to surging demands in the world’s largest automobile market. Each plant will eventually have annual production capacity of 300,000 units; the new plants will increase Beijing Hyundai Motor Co.’s capacity to 1.65 million units per year.

BHMC will build its fourth plant in Cangzhou, Hebei province, and its fifth plant in Chongqing.

BHMC plans to open the fourth plant with an initial annual capacity of 200,000 units in the second half of 2016, and later add capacity to reach the expected 300,000 units per year. The plant in Hebei will be built on a 2.095 million square meter site with a floor space of 221,000 square meters, featuring vehicle production facilities such as stamping, welding, painting, assembly and module lines.

Construction of its fifth plant in Chongqing will begin in the third quarter of 2015. Built on a 2 million square meter site, the plant will have 274,000 square meters of floor space, featuring complete vehicle and engine production facilities. Small and mid-size models specifically designed for the Chinese market will be rolled out from the plant, starting from the first half of 2017.

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. In 2012, with the addition of the third plant, the total annual production capacity reached more than 1 million units per year.