Toyota Australia has announced plans to stop car production in the country by the end of 2017 and operate as a national sales and distribution company.
This move will cease the local manufacturing of the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion vehicles, along with the production of four cylinder engines by the end of 2017.
The company noted that the contributing market and economic factors for this move include unfavorable Australian dollar that makes exports unviable, high costs of manufacturing and low economies of scale for vehicle production and local supplier base.
Toyota Australia president and CEO, Max Yasuda said, "We did everything that we could to transform our business, but the reality is that there are too many factors beyond our control that make it unviable to build cars in Australia.
"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," Yasuda added.
According to the company, approximately 2,500 employees directly involved with manufacturing will be impacted when the plant stops production in 2017.
After 2017, the company plans to import the Camry and Aurion vehicles along with the entire range of Toyota passenger and commercial vehicles.
