Honda Motor Co. has launched construction of an assembly plant in the central China city of Wuhan to meet the market's strong demand for its products.
The 3 billion yuan ($436 million) factory will begin production in the first half of 2019. It will build as many as 120,000 vehicles a year, Honda said in a written statement.
The plant will have capacity to build battery-electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid cars, according to Honda.
The factory will be operated by Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Honda's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Honda. 
Dongfeng Honda's two existing assembly plants -- both in Wuhan -- have combined capacity of 480,000 vehicles a year.
Honda also has a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. in the south China city of Guangzhou. That venture's assembly plants have combined production capacity of 600,000 vehicles.
In Guangzhou, Honda also has a wholly owned subsidiary called Honda Motor China Co., which can build up to 50,000 vehicles a year. The subsidiary's products are all exported. Target markets include Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East.
In the first 11 months, Honda's deliveries in China topped 1.1 million vehicles, surging 28 percent from the same period last year.