Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Tuesday its annual sales of eco-friendly vehicles will likely exceed 100,000 units this month amid their growing popularity here.

It would mark the first time that Hyundai's annual sales of green vehicles have surpassed the 100,000-unit level.

The projection comes as domestic sales of Hyundai's hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles have spiked nearly 40 percent in the first 10 months of this year from a year earlier.

In the January-October period, Hyundai, the flagship of automaking giant Hyundai Motor Group, sold 96,542 green vehicles, up 38.2 percent from the same period in 2020.

Hybrids took up the largest portion with 54,485 units, followed by electric vehicles with 34,716.

In October, Hyundai sold 13,354 environmentally friendly vehicles. Hyundai's domestic sales of green vehicles came to 84,793.

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker and Hyundai's smaller affiliate, is also expected to achieve an annual sales landmark of 100,000 green cars in November or December at the latest.

In the 10-month period, Kia sold 86,676 eco-friendly vehicles, up 52.3 percent from a year earlier. Last month, Kia's sales of green cars stood at 13,143 units.

Announcing their third-quarter results late last month, Hyundai and Kia vowed greater efforts to expand sales of environmentally friendly vehicles down the road thanks to their growing popularity among motorists. (Yonhap)