Details about Chang'an Ford's plans for a new brand are trickling through.

The Chinese joint venture intends to make a sedan under the new brand in 2016, according to information disclosed by a Chinese engineering firm.

To support the project, Chang'an Ford plans to invest 1 billion yuan (US$ 160 million) to renovate a production line at one of its three plants in the southwestern city Chongqing, CCTEG Chongqing Engineering said on its Web site.

The engineering company was hired by Chang'an Ford to assess the environmental impact of the project.

Production of the car, code-named I06, is scheduled to start in September 2016. The renovated production line will have capacity to build as many as 71,000 sedans a year. Further details about the sedan are unavailable.

Chang'an Ford is a joint venture between Ford Motor and Chongqing Chang'an Automobile. The Chinese government requires foreign automakers seeking to expand production in China to create car brands for their joint ventures with local partners.

Chang'an Ford has three assembly plants in Chongqing that produce the Ford Focus, Mondeo, Fiesta, S-Max, Kuga and EcoSport. The partnership is building a fourth plant in the east China city of Hangzhou. Ford also has a commercial vehicle joint venture in China, Jiangling Motors, in the east China city of Nanchang.

In the first four months of this year, Ford and its Chinese joint ventures sold 368,150 vehicles, up 41 percent from the same period last year.