CHANGSHA - GAC Mitsubishi Motors on Wednesday started construction of an engine plant in the central Chinese city of Changsha.

The joint venture between Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group), Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Mitsubishi Corp will cover an area of 21.6 hectares and have an annual production capacity of 150,000 units.

"The plant is expected to roll out the most advanced Mitsubishi engines in 2018," said Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group. "Changsha is the most important production base in central China for GAC Group."

By February this year, the company had produced 241,000 cars and sold 236,000 since its establishment in 2012, generating an industrial value of 33.9 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) and paying 4.5 billion yuan in tax revenues.