Hyundai Motor held a groundbreaking ceremony for a commercial vehicle plant for its joint venture company with a Chinese automaker in China's southwestern Sichuan Province.

Hyundai established the 50-50 joint venture with Sichuan Nanjun Automobile Group early this month based on an investment of 3.6 billion yuan.

Sichuan Hyundai plans to utilize Nanjun's existing production facilities to manufacture vehicles until the plant is completed by the first half of 2014.

The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 160,000 commercial vehicles -- 150,000 trucks and 10,000 buses. The joint venture aims to increase capacity to 300,000 later on. 

China is the world's largest market for commercial vehicles, with sales of 4.03 million units in 2011.