October retails of 7,921 vehicles and a year-to-date tally of 98,621 has Mazda sales up by 4.4 per-cent over 2015 and comfortably on-track for an all-time record year.

The month delivered Mazda a market share of 8.5 per-cent and was boosted by an all-time record of 863 sales for the new CX-9 seven-seat SUV.

Mazda CX-3 (1,176 sales in October) retains leadership of the small SUV segment with 15,493 sales so far in 2016.

And Mazda CX-5 (1,612 sales in October) continues to lead the hotly-contested medium SUV segment with 20,702 sales year-to-date – an impressive segment share of 17.6 per-cent.

In passenger cars, Mazda achieved a market share of 8.8 per-cent in October – 2,191 sales for the Mazda3, 794 sales for the Mazda2 sedan and hatchback, 243 sales for the recently refreshed Mazda6 and the award-winning Mazda MX-5 sports car racked-up 97 sales.

For the Mazda BT-50 pickup, October sales of 945 units brought the 2016 total to 12,224 vehicles- 6.1 per-cent improved over the corresponding period last year.

Martin Benders, Managing Director of Mazda Australia said: "We're excited to be so close to achieving 100,000 annual sales so early in the fourth quarter and this will be the fifth consecutive year Mazda Australia has delivered sales in excess of six figures."

"We're delighted to report an all-time record for our new Mazda CX-9 which was launched mid-year and continuing strong demand for our passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles has us confident we will achieve an all-time sales record by 31 December."