Following similar announcements from Ford and Holden, Japanese automaker Toyota made an official statement today, saying that by the end of 2017, all local car production will stop.
Toyota Australia is motivating the decision by blaming high costs for local assembly and the unfavorable local currency. Toyota Australia President and CEO, Max Yasuda, revealed this will cost approximately 2,500 australians their jobs, not including parts suppliers.
"Our focus will now be to work with our employees, suppliers, government and the unions as we transition to a national sales and distribution company. Support services will be available to our employees and we will do everything that we can to minimise the impact of this decision on our employees and suppliers," he continued to say.
Currently, Toyota Australia manufactures the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion vehicles. The company will restructure itself and become "a national sales and distribution company" meaning all cars will be imported, including the above-mentioned models. Last year's sales figures showed the Corolla hatchback as a firm favorite with buyers, despite its more compact size.
In May last year, Ford announced it would close all manufacturing in the country by October 2016. General Motors also plans to kill Holden assembly in the same year as Toyota, 2017. Ford will fire 1,2000 people, while Holden will leave 2,900 people jobless.
To get a sense of what's being lost, we've added a few videos from the Australian edition of Megafactories.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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