Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Tuesday it expects to sell more than 300,000 vehicles in the Middle East this year thanks to strong demand for its newly launched Sonata mid-size sedan there.

Hyundai Motor expected that it may sell about 340,000 vehicles in 10 Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon. The sales would be 3 percent larger than a year earlier.

This would mark the third straight year that Hyundai's car sales exceed 300,000 in those Middle East countries.

The forecast is based on strong demand for the Sonata LF mid-size sedans, which were newly launched last September there.

Hyundai Motor sold a total of 8,404 units of the Sonata LF for three months until November, which was 39 percent higher than sales of its previous version during the same period a year earlier.

Industry data showed that Hyundai Motor rose to second in the mid-size sedan segment in the region by selling 25,567 Sonatas during the January-November period.

The Sonata LF is popular especially in Jordan, where it accounts for 53.8 percent of the country's mid-size sedan market. (Yonhap)