Johnson Controls plans to build a new automotive battery manufacturing facility in the city of Shenyang in northeastern China as it continues to invest in the world’s largest new vehicle market.

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-headquartered company has signed an investment agreement for a $200 million state-of-the-art plant that is located in the Tiexi District of Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province.

The new plant will have capacity to produce six million automotive batteries a year with the industry’s leading sustainability and environmental standards.

“We have a long-term commitment to China, and the new plant will play a strategic role in our plans to meet the increasing expectations of quality products and services from customers and consumers in the country, which is one of our most important markets in the world,” said Joe Walicki, president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions.

Construction of the new plant is expected to begin early next year with production starting in 2018.

Batteries for ‘Start-Stop’ vehicles, which can help automakers meet increasingly strict fuel economy and emission regulations, will be a primary focus of the new facility.

Located in the so-called Circum-Bohai-Sea Region, Shenyang has been an important industrial base for China since the 1930s with an easily accessible convenient transportation network.

Johnson Controls entered the Chinese automotive battery supply market in 2005 and operates two battery manufacturing plants in Chongqing in western China and another in Zhejiang Province in eastern China. The company also maintains a product research and development center in Shanghai.