Toyota tops in sales race

For the first time, Toyota has outsold the combined totals of its two main competitors with a record 20,212 sales last month compared with Holden's 11,415 and Ford's 8206.

Yet Holden's Commodore remains the top-selling vehicle with 4440 sales last month and 49,081 so far this year, up 5.8 per cent on last year.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries figures show a whopping 89,289 vehicles were sold in October, or more than 3307 a day, up 6.9 per cent on September and 11.7 per cent on the previous October. So far this year, 871,651 vehicles have been sold, up 8.6 per cent or 69,345 vehicles on the same time last year.

The chamber said the sales rate was on target to hit 1,046,000 for the year. It would be the first time more than a million vehicles a year had been sold.

Passenger vehicle sales were up 2804 or 5.5 per cent over the same month last year and sports utility vehicles were up 3827 (27.5 per cent).

But the biggest growth was in work vehicles, with light trucks up 1877 or 14.8 per cent and heavy commercial vehicles up 851 (30.2 per cent).

So far this year, Toyota has lifted its market share to 22.4 per cent compared with 21.9 per cent at the same time last year. Toyota's 10-month sales total of 195,078 vehicles this year is more than 19,000 higher than for the same period in 2006.

The boost in sales comes as Toyota has launched its 20 Series LandCruiser into the large SUV sector which is struggling against a 22 per cent downturn in sales.

As vehicle sales head for a record one million, the motorcycle market is also on course to grow for the fifth consecutive year.

FCAI figures show 91,663 motorcycles, scooters and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) were sold to the end of September, a 10 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Road bike sales to September were 20.8 per cent higher.

FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said scooters and cruisers were contributing strongly.

The highest-selling cruiser to September was Harley-Davidson's FLSTF Fat Boy, with 722 sold.

In the Road Bike segment, Honda leads the market with 7171, followed by Harley-Davidson with 5102 and Suzuki with 4938.

Yamaha, with 11,388, leads the Off-Road segment ahead of Honda (10,177) and Suzuki (4467). ATV sales increased 9.2 per cent to September with Honda as market leader (4284) ahead of Yamaha (3954) and Suzuki (2376).

Bolwell leads the scooter market with 1724 ahead of Yamaha with 1322 and VMoto with 1107.

The combined motorcycle market is on track to again to break sales records this year.

The FCAI predicts unit sales to exceed 130,000 for the first time on the back of a traditionally forecast seasonal sales spike in the fourth quarter.

Meet the new LandCruiser in Saturday's Carsguide.