Final Production Of Australian-made Toyota Camry Begins

The production of Australian-made Toyota Camry at the Altona factory in Melbourne reached the final stage as the local car industry started to approach its end. The formal sign-off ceremony comes two-and-a-half years before the local car manufacturing industry shuts down once and for all.

Japanese giant Toyota is among the three giants to have fallen silent forever in Australia. It will last till 2017 while Ford will close its factories in October 2016 and Holden is also slated to close down its Elizabeth assembly line near Adelaide.

The cost of production for the new Camry has been a cool $108 million which includes a $23.6m investment from the federal government as well as some contribution from the Victorian state government. Toyota has given the car a big shakeup with over 800 new parts and this has been in spite of the present model only being two years old.

Toyota’s Australia president Dave Buttner has said that there could even be a premature departure for the company in case of a plunge in demand. "We have a strong commitment to our export customers, our domestic customers and a strong commitment to our suppliers that require the volume to sustain the operations to the end of '17 so we have every eye set on achieving that goal," he said.

"You can't just single one thing and say in isolation it's because of that cause or factor. A whole lot of things have to happen concurrently to ensure you survive as a manufacturer and unfortunately a lot of things came together that weren't really conducive to continue to manufacturer.Would we like to have continued as a manufacturer? Of course we would. We employ a large number of people that make a significant contribution to the economy. Naturally we would have liked to have continued on that journey," he said while commenting on the factors that led to the required decision.

At least 2 million vehicles have manufactured in Altona since the factory opened 20 years ago, in 1995. Not just this, Toyota has made over 3.2 million cars in Australia since 1963. When local production ends, it is anticipated that Toyota would import from Thailand, which has a Free Trade Agreement with Australia.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com