End of the line
Toyota Australia has officially stopped local production after more than half a century of making cars Down Under.
Approximately 3000 current and former employees, suppliers, affiliate company officials and representatives from Toyota today attended a ceremony that was held at Toyota’s Altona plant in Victoria to mark the sombre event.
Speaking at the ceremony, Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner thanked past and present workers for their hard work and efforts.
“It is you, our dedicated employees, who have built Toyota into Australia’s leading car company – the biggest-selling brand for 20 individual years, including the past 14 in a row,”
“It is your efforts that have helped Toyota become a byword for quality, for reliability and for trust wherever you go in Australia.”
The closure will see Toyota Australia’s employee numbers drop from 3900 to around 1300, meaning that more than 2500 people now find themselves out of work.
However, Buttner assured employees that Toyota would support them beyond today’s closure.
“When we launched the DRIVE program in 2014, its purpose was to ensure you are all in the best possible position to find a new job in the future. These services will remain until the middle of next year.”
More than 3.4 million Toyota’s have been built locally in Australia since the first factory opened in 1963 in Port Melbourne, Victoria, and Australia was the first country outside Japan to produce Toyota cars.