Australia's last remaining global automotive manufacturer, Toyota, has announced that it will cease production in 2017. The company blamed the high Australian dollar and a fiercely competitive market for the decision. Nearly 2500 jobs will be lost in the bargain and Toyota describes this decision as being a 'painful' one.
In a statement handed out to workers at the company's factory in Altona, Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota said, "We believed that we should continue producing vehicles in Australia, and Toyota and its workforce here made every effort. However, various negative factors such as an extremely competitive market and a strong Australian dollar, together with forecasts of a reduction in the total scale of vehicle production in Australia, have forced us to make this painful decision."
Earlier last year, it was Holden and Ford who planned their exit out of the Australian market. The manufacturing of vehicles such as the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion will cease by the end of 2017. While Ford has said it will cease production in 2016, Holden will stop mass production by 2017.
This indeed is a huge setback for the Australian automotive business and the jobs lost in the bargain just add to the apathy. The Australian government, however, is keen to convince the global automaker to stay, but it looks like the Japanese car maker has made up its mind.
