CHANGCHUN - A new plant owned by China's First Automobile Works (FAW) Group Corp. and Japan's Toyota Motor Corp is expected to go into operation in northeast China city of Changchun at the end of this year, with an annual output capacity of 200,000 cars.

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The new plant, covering 800,000 square meters in its first phase, was built as an expansion project of SFTM Changchun Fengyue Co Ltd, a 50-50joint venture between FAW and Toyota founded in 2005. The company's old plant covers 75,400 square meters.

The new plant would manufacture best-selling Toyota vehicles, such as the Corolla, said Sun Guowu, vice general manager of FAW.

Construction on the new plant started in October 2008, but work was delayed due to the impact of global financial crisis. Construction was restarted in the latter half of 2009.

Total investment in the plant would exceed 4 billion yuan ($606 million), Sun said.

Last year, 510,000 FAW Toyota cars were sold in China, and this year, the company's goal is 550,000.