Toyota leads market with record Hybrid sales

Toyota predicts it will sell more than 200,000 vehicles in 2020, with sales of the company's hybrid cars and SUVs expected to approach a record 20 per cent of all deliveries.

The forecasts follow today's announcement that Toyota is the best-selling car brand for 2019, leading the new-vehicle market for the 23rd time - the past 17 years in a row.

Customers bought 205,766 Toyota vehicles during the year, lifting the company's market share to a seven-year high of 19.4 per cent - more than the combined totals of its two nearest rivals for the third straight year.

It is the eighth year in a row and the 15th time in the past 16 years that Toyota sales have exceeded 200,000 vehicles in a calendar year.

Toyota's HiLux (47,649 deliveries) is Australia's best-selling car for the fourth year in a row - and Australia's most popular commercial vehicle for the past 22 years.

Corolla (30,468 sales) has maintained its leadership in passenger-car sales for a 7th consecutive year, while demand for Camry (16,768) rose by 9.8 per cent to extend its reign in the mid-size car segment to an unbeaten run of 26 years.

Toyota's tally in 2019 was boosted by a record 27,846 hybrid vehicle sales - more than 13.5 per cent of the brand's total sales and more than double the previous year's level.

The company expects surging demand to accelerate hybrid sales this year to a new record of 40,000 deliveries, with the final number determined by supply.

In 2019, Toyota sold more passenger cars (59,729), SUVs (80,180) and light-commercial vehicles (65,857) than any other brand. It was also the best-selling brand in every state and territory.

RAV4 - with a new-generation vehicle that arrived in May - was Toyota's most popular SUV with an all-time high of 24,260 sales, a gain of 9.5 per cent over the previous record set a year earlier.

Corolla, Camry, LandCruiser Prado, LandCruiser wagon, HiLux 4x2, Coaster, HiAce van and HiAce bus led their individual segments.

During the year, Toyota passed another milestone, selling its seven-millionth vehicle in Australia, comprising 3.7 million passenger cars and 3.3 million commercial vehicles.

In the past decade, Toyota has sold in excess of two million vehicles - delivering one million more vehicles than any other company.