Japan's Nissan Motor said Monday that its joint venture with China's Dongfeng Motor Group would spend up to 5.0 billion yuan ($784 million) on a new plant in China, the world's biggest car market.

The new plant in the northeastern city of Dalian is scheduled to begin producing Nissan-brand passenger vehicles in 2014, with an annual capacity of 150,000 units, the Japanese firm said in a statement at a groundbreaking for the factory.

That figure would eventually rise to 300,000 annually, it added.

The investment is part of Nissan's efforts to meet its target of selling two million cars a year in China by 2015, it said.

"China is our largest market today and will continue to be one of Nissan's most important engines of growth," Nissan Executive Vice President Hiroto Saikawa said.

Nissan currently has several plants in southern and central China.