Hyundai building new-energy vehicle center in E China

Hyundai Motor has begun building a new-energy vehicle research and development center in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province, sources with the local government said on Monday.

The center, located in the city's economic development zone, will develop the three core components of new-energy vehicles -- motors, batteries and electric controls -- and carry out overall car design, according to the economic development zone's administrative committee.

With a planned total investment of 290 million U.S. dollars, the center is expected to have an annual turnover of 100 million dollars when it goes operational later this year.

Hyundai Motor, the fifth-largest carmaker in the world, sold more than 4.7 million automobiles in 2013.

After entering China in 2002 with a joint venture in Beijing, the Republic of Korea firm has expanded steadily in the world's largest auto market.

Last month, Hyundai announced that it would build a fourth China plant in Chongqing Municipality with a designed capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year.

Hyundai's total sales in China will hit 1.82 million vehicles this year, according to Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor.