Pre-sale orders for Hyundai Motor Co.’s new Sonata mid-size sedan topped the 10,000 unit mark in three days, the company said Sunday.

South Korea’s largest carmaker said it had received 10,015 orders for the Sonata LF since Wednesday when it started accepting pre-orders.

This is the second largest pre-order tally since it started getting orders for the current generation Sonata YF in September of 2009. That model received 12,787 pre-orders in three days.

Hyundai said the level of interest shown by local consumers is noteworthy because the numbers had not benefited from government tax breaks.

In 2009, when the outgoing Sonata was unveiled, Seoul was in the process of implementing a scrappage scheme that gave up to 70 percent off in registration and acquisition taxes for people who got rid of old vehicles with poor mileage for newer fuel-efficient cars. (Yonhap)