Australians bought record number of new cars during 2015

Australians purchased a record number of cars during 2015, with a strong demand for Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) pushing the growth.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries revealed late on Wednesday that 1,155,408 new cars rolled off Australian showrooms -- the most in history and the fourth year with sales exceeding 1. 1 million.

SUV sales continued to grow, with Australians purchasing 408, 471 SUVs compared to 355,793 small cars, meaning 2015 was the first year that small car sales were beaten by another demographic.

The 15.9 percent spike in SUV sales translated to an additional 56,071 sales compared to the year of 2014.

Toyota was once again the Australian car of choice. It holds onto its position as the top-selling car brand for now the 13th year in a row, followed by Mazda, local General Motors brand Holden, then Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Ford.

The Toyota Corolla was the highest selling model with 42,073 cars rolling off showroom floors.

It edged out the Mazda 3 which sold 38,644 cars, while Toyota's utility -- the HiLux - was the third biggest seller, with 35,161 sales across the nation.

Meanwhile luxury car dealers experiences a jump in sales, with Audi selling 20 percent more cars than in 2014, BMW sold 10 percent more cars than last year, while Mercedes-Benz sales were up 14 percent -- selling more than 30,000 new cars for the first time in its Australian history.

Supercar brands Ferrari and Porsche both experienced massive growth compared to 2014, with 47 percent and 45 percent jumps in sales respectively.