Toyota Australia Celebrating Five-Millionth Sale, 60 Months At Top

TOYOTA AUSTRALIA is celebrating two milestones, marking its five-millionth sale and a 60-month run as the top-selling carmaker in Australia.

Toyota says that although it's impossible to know exactly which sale ticked the counter over to five million - or the date on which it occurred - the milestone is known to have been achieved in the past month.

The number is understood to be mad up of 2.9 million passenger cars and 2.1 million commercial vehicles sold since the company's first Australian-delivered vehicle - the Toyota LandCruiser - rolled off the boat in 1958.

In its first year in Australia, Toyota sold 1275 cars. The Japanese carmaker now averages 100,000 local sales a year - cracking that number for the first time in 1983.

Toyota Australia's first million sales took more than 20 years. Its two-millionth sale came nine years later, the third-millionth in another eight years, and a further six years for its four-millionth sale.

The most popular model for the Japanese brand in Australia has been the Corolla, with around 1.1 million sold over the past 47 years. Australia was the first export market for the Corolla.

Around 740,000 Camrys, and as many LandCruisers, have rolled out of local Toyota showrooms, while around 155,000 Land Cruiser Prados have been sold.

The HiLux - Australia's best-selling vehicle in 2009 for two months - has achieved around 650,000 sales.

Toyota Australia is also celebrating 60 consecutive months as the top brand in the Australian new car market, marked by 20,306 sales in March - leading second-place Holden by around 8500 sales.