Shanghai General Motors, GM's flagship passenger car venture with SAIC Motor Corp, aims to add a new 300,000-unit plant in the city of Wuhan, a statement posted on the website of the Hubei Environmental Protection Bureau showed.

China recently altered a list of industries for which it wants to attract foreign investment, downgrading traditional heavy manufacturing and putting more emphasis on new technology sectors.

China's once-booming car market, the largest in the world, cooled to a 5.2 percent gain last year, after jumping 53 percent in 2009 and 33 percent in 2010.

The slowdown has been blamed on a number of factors, ranging from the end of tax incentives for small cars to government efforts to ease worsening traffic congestion in major cities.