Toyota has been confirmed as the best-selling automotive brand in Australia in 2010 as the local new-vehicle market cracked one million sales for only the third time.

Official figures released today show Toyota was the overall market leader, selling more than one out of every five new cars, SUVs and trucks.

Toyota said Australians bought 214,718 new Toyota vehicles last year, helping to push the local market to 1,035,574 - the second highest result on record.

Toyota's tally was its seventh consecutive year above 200,000 sales. It widened the gap over its nearest rival to more than 81,700 vehicles - the equivalent of 224 extra sales every day of the year.

Toyota has topped the sales charts for the past eight years in a row and for 14 of the past 20 years.

Corolla - Australia's best-selling vehicle in November and December - was Toyota's most popular vehicle with sales rising to more than 41,600. It has been the best-selling vehicle in NSW for the past five years and Australia's best-selling small car for each of the past 11 years.

HiLux, with almost 39,900 deliveries, was Australia's best-selling ute, best-selling 4WD and best-selling light-commercial vehicle. It was the outright best seller in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Camry, LandCruiser Prado, LandCruiser wagon and HiAce van and bus - in addition to Corolla and HiLux 2WD and 4WD - were all leaders in their respective market segments.

New-generation Prado, in its first full year of sales, regained the crown as Australia's top-selling SUV with demand jumping 27 per cent to 16,745 units.

Senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner said Toyota was Australia's leading automotive exporter with Camry, Hybrid Camry and Aurion cars shipped to more than 20 destinations.

He said production at Toyota's Melbourne manufacturing plant increased by 23.6 per cent to almost 120,000 cars in 2010. Of these, almost 83,000 were exported, mainly to the Middle East - an increase of more than 30 per cent over the previous year.

"We are also investing in new-generation engines to be produced in Australia that are more fuel efficient, produce fewer carbon emissions and provide significant opportunities for new exports," Mr Buttner said.