Kia Motors Corp. and its Chinese subsidiary, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor Co., Ltd., held the groundbreaking ceremony for its third plant in the Yancheng Economic Development Zone (Jiangsu Province) today, officially signaling the start of construction of the automaker's newest state-of-the art manufacturing facility.

The plant, which will boast an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles when completed in the first half of 2014, is an aggressive move by Kia to further strengthen its presence in China, which has become the world's largest automotive market. Combined with the current annual capacity from its two existing plants in the Yancheng Economic Development Zone, which have annual capacities of 130,000 and 300,000 units, Kia will be able to produce a total of 730,000 vehicles locally in China.