The Australian motor vehicle industry soared to its third consecutive annual sales record last year.

According to official figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, 955,229 cars, trucks and buses were sold in 2004.

The total smashed the sales record set in 2003 by 45,418 vehicles or five per cent.

The result means the market has grown by 182,548 vehicles or 23.6 per cent in just three years.

“A strong economy, easy and inexpensive finance and the much improved value for money most vehicles now represent have attracted significantly larger numbers of people to the new car market in recent years,” said the chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Peter Sturrock.

The FCAI is forecasting vehicle sales will once again set a record in 2005, topping 980,000.

“A million vehicles a year is still a challenging goal but it could conceivably be achieved,” said Mr Sturrock.

Toyota was the most popular brand for the second year in a row with 201,737 sales for 21.1 per cent of the market.

Holden was second with 178,027 deliveries followed by Ford with 135,172.

Following the big three came the first of the importers, Nissan with 63,654, which pushed ahead of Mitsubishi with 56,967.

Mazda consolidated its sixth position with 55,560 sales, a 4.4 per cent sales rise, ahead of Hyundai with 42,510 sales.

Eighth-placed Honda’s sales rose 18.4 per cent while Subaru in ninth enjoyed a sales increase of 12.7 per cent. But the biggest gain in the top 10 was enjoyed by Kia, whose sales rose by 7,219 or 41.9 per cent to enter the top 10 for the first time.

The three most popular vehicle name plates in Australia last year were Holden’s Commodore with 79,170 sales followed by Ford’s Falcon with 65,384 and Toyota’s Camry four/V6 with 40,356.

The Medium Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment was the strongest performing category in 2004, growing by 57.4 per cent.

“The performance of the Australian-designed and built Ford Territory is particularly laudable given that its 13,583 sales were made in only eight months, suggesting it would easily have made the list of the top ten selling models in a full year,” said Mr Sturrock.

Other segments performing strongly were Prestige cars (up 27.1 per cent), People Movers (up 28.5 per cent), Luxury SUVs (up 15.3 percent) and four wheel drive Pickups (up 15.8) per cent.

“The strong sales of the Prestige and Luxury SUV segments indicate that plenty of consumers still feel confident, while the strong sales of light trucks and other commercial vehicles speaks to the strength of the economy as a whole,” said Mr Sturrock.