Toyota has increased its sales by two per cent, further cementing its position as Australia’s top selling brand.

Australians bought 13,645 Toyota vehicles in January, an increase of 270 on the same month in 2013, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

The next best selling brand was Mazda, with 9,411 cars sold, while Holden sold 8,871 vehicles.

Growth in January sales lifted Toyota’s market share by almost a full percentage point, Toyota’s executive director of sales and marketing Tony Cramb said.

“Toyota is well placed to record another year of more than 200,000 sales, which would result in a 12th consecutive year of market leadership,” he said.

While Toyota was the best selling brand in January, the best selling car belonged to Mazda.

Sales of the Mazda3 grew by 36 per cent from a year ago to 4,561.

Toyota’s Corolla and HiLux took the next two spots, with 2,913 and 2,544 sales respectively.

The locally built Camry 86 sports coupe also topped its segment.

Holden and Ford’s plans to leave Australia will leave Toyota as the only local car manufacturer.

But the company has warned it may also halt local manufacturing if it cannot slash labour costs by $17 million.

Overall car sales for the month, compared to January 2013, dropped by 3.7 per cent to 82,285.