Chennai, Feb 19 (IANS): Car major Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the Indian subsidiary of South Korean Hyundai Motor Company, is hoping to increase sales in rural areas this year by 25,000 units, said a senior official here Thursday.

He said the company would also increase its distribution foot print in the tier II and III towns to grow the sales.

"We are targeting sales of around 105,000 units this year in the rural markets," Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice president-sales and marketing told reporters here post new Verna model launch.

He said the company would increase the sales outlets by 30 to 350 in the rural areas to aid the target.

According to him, even one percent growth in the rural sales is a big number.

He said the company is hoping to log double digit sales growth this year while the industry is logging growth in single digit.

Queried about the exports, he said exports are expected to be around 40 percent of the total sales.

He said the company's plant near here has a capacity to roll out around 680,000 units per annum