Corolla on track to win 2015 sales race

Forget Holden v Ford, the new car battle is Toyota Corolla versus Mazda3, and the Toyota now has an almost unassailable lead.

The Toyota Corolla is on track to be Australia's favourite car for an unprecedented third year in a row after topping the sales charts in November.

Confidential industry figures show the Corolla has an almost unassailable lead of almost 3500 cars -- a month's worth of sales -- going into December, after leading the passenger-car race for eight of the past 11 months.

The Corolla has swapped the lead five times with its arch rival, the Mazda3 small car, which had led the market for the previous two years and ended the Holden Commodore's winning streak in 2011.

Toyota is on track to celebrate its 13th year in a row as our favourite automotive brand

Industry insiders have forecast a record year, with the market widely expected to eclipse 1.1 million sales for the fourth year in a row, and overtake the previous record set in 2013, when 1,136,227 vehicles were reported as sold.

Sales across the entire new-car market are up by 3.6 per cent year-to-date and Toyota is on track to celebrate its 13th year in a row as our favourite automotive brand.

Utes continue to have a strong presence in the Top 10, with the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger workhorses filling two of the top four positions in November.

Holden Commodore sales were down, but as a sign of the fragmenting market both it and the locally-made Toyota Camry sedan managed to hold onto the fifth and sixth place outright in November.

Holden also managed to overtake Hyundai for third place in November. The two brands are in a tight battle for a podium Top Three finish for the year.

If Holden gets beaten by Hyundai, it will be the first time in Holden history it has not been on the Top Three sellers list.

Official figures for the month are due to be published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on Thursday.

Top 10 cars in November (preliminary figures)

Toyota Corolla - 3430
Toyota HiLux - 3370
Mazda3 - 3105
Ford Ranger - 3030
Holden Commodore - 2615
Toyota Camry - 2570
Hyundai i30 - 2500
Nissan Navara - 2290
Nissan X-Trail - 2225
Mazda CX-5 - 2170

Top 10 brands in November (preliminary figures)

Toyota - 18,400
Mazda - 9805
Holden - 8890
Hyundai - 8415
Nissan - 7235
Ford - 6330
Mitsubishi - 5165
Volkswagen - 4440
Subaru - 3885
Honda - 3070