CHICAGO ¨C Toyota Motor Corp. expects record U.S. auto- industry sales for 2015 followed by another two years of strength as gasoline prices remain low and the U.S. economy continues on a path of stable growth.

The industry¡¯s deliveries this year are poised to overtake the current annual record of 17.4 million set in 2000. An increase of about 5 percent this month would be enough to establish a new peak, amid low interest rates and gasoline prices. Sales for the past three months have reached a yearly pace of 18.2 million.

Those trends are continuing in December and are pushing the industry toward the new peak, said Bill Fay, the Toyota brand¡¯s top sales executive in the U.S., said Thursday in an interview in Detroit. ¡°Sure seems like it¡± is going to be a record year, he said. ¡°With the August-through-November activity in the market and the momentum and the year-end push and the consumer confidence, gas prices, interest rates ¡ª they¡¯re all lining up.¡±

Bob Carter, head of the company¡¯s U.S. sales operations, said he was amazed to see gasoline selling for $1.59 a gallon this week near the Detroit airport. These low prices, he said, will help drive another 24 months of strong sales, even if 2016 falls short of the record the company expects this year.

¡°If ¡®16 comes in at 17.4 or 17.3 or 17.2¡± million, ¡°you¡¯re still going to see a smile on all of our faces,¡± he said. ¡°But the million-unit growth year over year, that¡¯s over.¡±

Low gasoline prices are also driving a shift to pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles, which accounted for 59.7 percent of U.S. sales in November, Carter said. That¡¯s up from just 48 percent in 2006, he said.

Automakers are trying to build market share now before a potential peak next year or in 2017, said Eric Lyman, a vice president at TrueCar Inc. Toyota¡¯s incentives were about 14 percent higher in November than a year earlier, including zero-percent financing on its Camry sedan, according to the provider of vehicle price data. The Toyota, Aichi Prefecture-based firm¡¯s boost of monthly sales to 3.4 percent, outpacing the industry¡¯s 1.3 percent gain.

¡°The automakers see the headwinds coming, so as the saying goes, they¡¯re trying to make hay while the sun is still shining,¡± Lyman said.

Federal Reserve officials have signaled that they will probably raise interest rates this month, ending a seven-year stint of near-zero borrowing costs.