South Korean car maker Hyundai expects to see its production capacity in China rival the volume in its home country by 2017.

It announced the start of construction of a new plant in Southwest China's municipality of Chongqing early this month, with a planned annual production capacity of 300,000 units.

The move followed the breaking of ground for another new plant in Cangzhou, North China's Hebei province, last month with the same production capacity.

Once the two plants come on line, the company expects to see its annual production in China hit 2.7 million units by 2017, in line with its home production.

Statistics show that Hyundai sold 1.81 million cars last year, up 12 percent year-on-year.