Four-wheel drives fueled the record sales numbers of motor vehicles seen in September as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reported on Tuesday that Australia's motor vehicle sales would most likely soar beyond the one million mark on the current calendar year.

Overall motor vehicle sales totalled to 85,054 units in September, which includes passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles, an improvement by 8.9 percent or 6293 units from the same month in 2009, according to FCAI.

FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar said that the record units that drove out of dealers' outlets in September edged out the previous high of 84,470 posted in 2005.

Mr McKellar said that sales soared by 14.2 percent in the month as he added that "it is encouraging to see that sales to private buyers recorded the largest increase this month which is further evidence of renewed confidence in the marketplace."

The encouraging figures, according to him, prompted the national automotive body to upgrade its annual projections for the auto industry, stressing that "given the continued strength of the market in recent months, the industry has revised its annual sales forecast to more than one million sales, up from the previous projection of more than 980,000."

Mr McKellar underscored the fact that the milestone September result was a significant development for the local auto industry as he stressed that "the Australian market has only twice recorded a market with more than one million sales so this will be quite an achievement."

FCAI outlined on its new report that SUV sales led the overall numbers by registering spikes of 36.3 percent in September while passenger cars posted improvements of 3.1 percent in the same month, with light commercials turnovers contributing by 1.7 percent gains.

The automotive body said that motor vehicle sales racked up by 14.5 percent to 780,720 units in the year leading to the end of September as against to the figures registered in the same corresponding period last year.