Toyota factory marks three-million milestone

A NEW-generation Toyota Camry Hybrid has become the three-millionth car to roll off Toyota’s Australian production lines.

The milestone was celebrated this week by workers at the Altona assembly plant where Toyota builds Camry and Aurion for Australian and export markets.

While the first million Toyota vehicles made in Australia took 29 years to rack up, starting with a Tiara built under contract at the old Australian Motor Industries (AMI) plant in Port Melbourne in 1963, the most recent million took just eight years.

Toyota said 2012 also marks the 25th anniversary of Camry production in Australia, with 1.8 million of the mid-sized sedans being built since 1987 and more than half of those exported.

Toyota Australia executive director sales and marketing Matthew Callachor said Australia had contributed prominently to the growth and success of Toyota Motor Corporation.

"It was here in Australia that Toyota first tasted international success – the first country outside Japan to produce Toyota cars and to build a Toyota engine manufacturing plant," he said.

"Australia was the first Toyota affiliate outside Japan to export Camry, and today we are among just five countries entrusted with building hybrid cars.”

Toyota is set to begin production of 2.5-litre four-cylinder engines in January at its $330 million refurbished engine plant at Altona, in Melbourne’s west.

As GoAuto reported earlier this month, Toyota is expected to decide as early as next year if it will add another new model, such as the RAV4, into its Australian manufacturing mix.

Among the Toyota cars built in Australia are Tiara (1963-65), Corona (1965-87), Crown (1966-80), Corolla (1968-99), Camry (1987-present), Holden Apollo (1989-96), Holden Nova (1989-96), Avalon (2000-05), Aurion (2006-present) and Camry Hybrid (2010-present).