2.5 million Toyotas built in Australia
April 28, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Toyota, Australia’s number one auto-manufacturer, last week built the company’s two-and-a-half millionth car at the Altona manufacturing plant in Melbourne.
Although most manufacturers try their best to make the milestone vehicles something special, in Toyota’s case, it was a white Toyota Camry Grande. The car marks 45 years after Toyota Australia built its first car.
As uninspiring as the Camry may seem, it has been the most successful production model in the Toyota lineup with over 1.3 million units made to date – more than twice that of any other model.
Of the 2.5 million cars manufactured in Australia, more than 26 per cent (650,000) have been exported to overseas markets, mainly to the Middle East.
Although the first million cars took 32 years to make (1963-1992), it only took 12 years to produce the second million, and only four years from there to hit the 2.5 million mark.
2007 was not only the best year for Toyota in terms of actual sales, but the Japanese giant manufactured nearly 150,000 cars – a 35,000 increase over its previous best in 2003. Out of that 150,000, 97,688 were exported, earning Toyota $1.7 billion.
According to the company, since 2002 over $1 billion AUD has been invested in the manufacturing operations at Altona, which employs around 3,500 people. The plant also injects about $1.7 billion into the economy every year.
So far the Big T has built nine models in Australia: Tiara, Crown, Corona, Corolla, Camry, Avalon and Aurion as well as the Holden Nova (based on Corolla) and Apollo (Camry).
Toyota’s Australian operations currently include the four-cylinder Camry and the six cylinder Aurion passenger sedans for domestic and export markets.
Print it: 
If Toyota are able to buy BMW or Ford or GM why don’t they? This would be an ideal time for Toyota to look at buying or at least merging with one of the “struggling” car companies.. because even though they are having a few problems at the moment {Mainly in the US] it wont last for long..
As the saying goes one generation [of a family] makes money the next saves it the next wastes it or loses it.. it’s a cyclical thing which also applies to business
I mean Volkswagen were in worse financial situation than Ford andd GM yet Porsche decided to Buy them because they could see the potential VW had to offer.. The same goes for Renault buying Nissan etc
Not only that but Toyota could use the expertise technology and resources etc that GM Ford and the other major manufacturers have particularly in terms of design; engines and of course RWD
Congratulations to Toyota, the most successful car company in the world.
Corolla toppling Holden… You obviously haven’t noticed the steady rise in popularity of Mazdas [over the past couple of months].. If there is any one manufacturer Holden Ford and Toyota should be concerned about ATM it’s Mazda.. particularly in terms of Corolla vs Mazda 3
Nah Wheelnut – Toyota merge with the other big boys. That would be awful for the car users, I mean the competition would dissapear over night. Bad news. Least the yanks could stick to buying bland motors.
Dingo,
QUOTE………….
“Seriuosly – Ford Oz actually has a responable fleet while Holden is covered by many Daewoo models yet still achieve more sales then Ford.”
well atleast you can see now that it is possible that a car maker with the poorer fleet can be the better when it comes to sales
perhaps that will send you away with some pondering to do
“Wheelnut”; I doubt Toyota would think about buying any of those companies. Easier just to continue winning market share from them, as has been the case for years. A few hours ago, BMW announced a 17% fall in profit and job cuts of 8,500 workers. Its share price has fallen 17% in a year.
Wheelnut … good points but unfortunately as proven by Ford’s mishaps with Jaguar, Rover and ofcourse the various ownership swaps that have happened over the years with Crysler and parties – you can often take on corporate cultures that will not mesh with your own hence cause not only problems but potential heavy losses.
On the other hand, the fully owned enterprises of Toyota being Lexus and Scion were established from scratch by TMC therefore it’s own culture has been instilled into the companies from day-dot and judging by the success of it all – has been a good choice.
Yes, Toyota has shares in other companies but they are not substantial or controlling interests (except Diahatsu 52%) hence much easier to part-alliance if cultural problems become an issue.
And also, TMC has a vast array of expertise and argueably more then most others but is utilised in such away that it will benefit all of it’s controlled interests – Toyota, Lexus, Scion and Diahatsu. For example, Scion must be diffientiated to Toyota as much as Toyota has to be diffientiated to Lexus.
mainstream Toyota passenger cars will probably remain FWD while Lexus RWD amoung a vast array of other differances. It is the same with TRD and the upcoming performance machines from Lexus. Basically the capabilities of each must be considerably different not to mention the craftsmanship that is invested into Lexus in the first place.
A good example – Holden and Ford can position FPV and HSV pretty much as they want in Australia because they have no other conflicting interest whereas TRD has to be positioned in such a way that it doesn’t overlap with the sports cars coming Lexus. Far to much money has been invested by TMC into each offshoot to have potentially conflicting overlaps.
Admittedly there are some overlaps that do exsist such as the Cruiser and LX series but over the years with new released models from Lexus, they have moved further away from overlaps with Toyota and will continue to do so in the future.
It makes for successful business and TMC’s position on the global market today is testimony to that.
cheers
Life at the top is extremely hard as history has always proved.
And so it seems the cycle is commencing with Toyota…
Although Toyota has recently claimed the title of the World’s Largest Automaker in terms of global sales, the Japanese-giant is finding out that life at the top isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be. While the Camry, Corolla, Yaris and Prius sedans are reportedly brisk movers, the same thing cannot be said about Toyota’s line of trucks and sport utility vehicles. Toyota has cut Tundra and Sequoia production already, but dealers are still declining to purchase them, pushing the number of unclaimed units to an all-time high. Automotive News quotes an unnamed Toyota dealer as saying, “Last month, Southeast Toyota had 9,700 vehicles that had been turned down twice by dealers and are either sitting at the port or at sea. That’s a significant number.” Right now, Toyota/Scion has a high 58-day supply of available inventory on hand.
Some dealers, though, see the high number of available units as a blessing-in-disguise. “We’ve been asking for more inventory for two years and now we finally got it. This is a great opportunity. You have to take it when you can get it,” says Steve Cain, general manager of Lewis Toyota-Scion in Topeka, Kansas. Regardless of your viewpoint, we expect that Toyota will align itself with market realities in order to bring production in line with actual sales sooner rather than later. In other words, if you’ve been in the market for a Toyota truck, chances are good you’ll get a decent deal.
Andrew – unfortunately for you, Toyota has a strong, consistant and reputable fleet right across it’s entire range.
Unlike Holden and many others … each passenger car, SUV, 4X4, commercial or people mover from Toyota are amoung the most competive and reputable offerings on the automotive market. There is far more truth in my statement for you to ponder instead.
Lets not bring in quality/customer satisfaction surveys shall we. Better still – just acknowledge reality and forget about la, la, land for once.
No Name – I know it would be a bad idea for GM BMW or Ford to merge with TMC.. I doubt it will ever happen – Particularly in relation to BMW
I just wanted to see if Dingo…. I mean Matty Lever….
I mean Australia’s First taste of A Tough Truck…. I mean Supports Toyota Motorsport could put together a relatively well structured reply whereby he acknowledged/accepted other peoples opinions etc without getting offensive or insulting.
Surprose Surprise seems he can.
You L-O-V-E reffering to statistcs surveys opinion polls oh and ANCrAP lab tests so why stop now>
Have you finally realised that the majority of people on this site do’;t give a rats a–e about any of them.. and what really matters to the car enthusiasts on this site is things like power, performance and driving pleasure….
what happens out on the road; in the real world
sorta sussed that wheelnut. Sorry but i’m not engaging someone like him after the weekends episodes. I started typing respectful responses but deleted them.
Maximus – i agree.
Toyota has finally reached the top and have had a few extra problems sense. However … TMC has been first to acknowledge and accept this and have also stated that greater resources and attention will be invested in order to not only sort out the current issues but minimising the same and other mistakes in the future.
If there is any company in the world that can be No.1 and remain solid with corporate integrity backed by reputable and competitive cars then Toyota would certainly have be one of those with the capacity to do so. In Toyota’s favour is talent, culture, resources, finacial strength and vision and i believe these will be invested wisely to ensure a highly competitive company for many, long generations to come yet.
Also … your point about the Tundra is partially correct. Toyota over-estimated potential sales for the truck but infavour of my comment – the Tundra contines to grow in popularity ‘year in – year out’ setting new records for itself last year (just under thier estimation of 200 000) while the first 3 months this year has seen greater sales then the same time in 2007.
So … yes, Toyota over-estimated production but insaying that – Tundra sales continue to improve.
9 700 is less then 1 months sales. March 2008 alone, 14 000 Tundra’s were sold compared to 12 000 for February 2008.
General Motors has just announced 3,550 job cuts due to falling sales (quote: New York Times). Toyota is getting stronger while the others are weakening.
Quote – Anthony C: hats off to toyota they have shown the world that a single company can take on every other company and come up trumps.
What cars do Toyota/Lexus offer that are in the same market sector or a are a direct rival to the:
Lamborghini Gallardo or Mucielago etc
Ferrari F360 F430 etc
Aston Martin Vanquish DB-9 etc
Konigsiegg CC-X
Bugatti Veyron
Rolls Royce
Porsche GT3 GT or 911 Carrera
Aerial Atom or KTM X-Bow
BTW as far as I am aware Toyota are yet to take on Microsoft; Sony BMG; McDonalds; Boeing etc so they haven’t beaten every other company
Wheelnut – i extend the same challenge to you, i would like to see you (and anyone else for that matter) accept my constructive points of view without getting abusive or insulting.
Oh yeah – you got all the names right except Matty Lever … not me !!
Are you prepared to practice what you preach .. that’s the whole point of it all.
Wheelnut … i can name a whole range of vehicles that Toyota has got that none of those companies have. Were are thier u-beaut, tuff as nails, earths greatest 4×4’s.
And for the other companies …. does Toyota make computers, aeroplanes, burgers or what eva – NO !! Thier business is cars so get with the game.
And here is another way for you to look at it … do any of those companies take on Toyota … NO !!
Dingo Read the Quote again
Anthony C: hats off to toyota they have shown the world that a single company can take on EVERY other company and come up trumps.
He didn’t specify or limit it to CAR Companies
Wheelnut – you know what else people enjoy on the road … quality, reliability, dependability and hassle free motoring not to mention most Toyota’s these days are amoung the most powerful wether be it cars, SUV’s, 4×4’s, or luxury (Lexus). That said, handling and dynamics have come along way with examples such as the Aurion a very pleasurable car to drive while the differance between the Corolla and Mazda3 is negliable as described by comparison.
Personally, Toyota has invested well in ensuring thier vehicles are well balanced overing competiance in all areas of car ownership.
Hyundai / Kia, VW, Ford and GM in that order and pegging for top spot. Only a fool would think Toyota stay on top forever!
Wheelnut … fair enough but please, read between the lines – we are talking cars.
Maximus – no one has ever said that Toyota will stay at the top forever, the question is … for how long !!
This is what i personally believe – GM and Toyota will tussle No.1 for a few years playing a game of leap but either way – Toyota is not going to make the challenge easy. Even if they eventually do settle further down the list but continue to make great cars, competitively participate in motorsport, retain perfromance orientated machines while maintaining corporate integrity … they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
The other thing that you have got to consider is this – it is easy to suggest that VW, Hyundai etc, etc all want to be No.1 aswell but the challenge is … will they be able to maintain product and corporate integrity as they grow – maybe ‘yes’ or maybe ‘not’.
Toyota hasn’t got all of it’s quirks sorted yet but i believe they will get of them in order – in time !!
Clearly some people need to learn to stop taking themselves so seriously still.
Tony C its all doom and gloom for us,Toyota is taking over the world. Soon we will be sleeping in our Toyota beds,with Toyota blankets and pillows,dreaming of Toyotas,waking up to a shower under our Toyota owned water washing ourselves with Toyota soap,drying ourselves with Toyota towells,brushing our teeth with Toyota tooth paste,and best of all using Toyota toylet paper to wipe our……”Oh what a feeling”
Enough on god dam Toyota’s ruling the world PLEASE!I think we have established that they have done a great job so far,but do we have to keep hearing about them over and over again. My mum is a smart lady,and said to me once the bigger they are the harder they fall.
NM, When did I say Toyota will stay on top forever, I agree its always difficult being on top and never lasts forever, but if you can play the field right, making right decisions, good management, you can prolong your competitiveness by improving cars/technology and so forth. No doubt they will hit slumps but with strong infrastructure and resources they are more likely to bounce back swifter than a car maker that hasnt been faring too well.
As for Microsoft, yes its not a good 1 to 1 similarity, but looking at the tactics they can do (ethical or not) without risk to their financial position, you goto wonder that large super profit raking corps have the array of tactics in their disposal over the ones scraping on their margins
Right on Bav Miss. Anyone would think that Toyota have eliminated the rest of the competition. Simply not true. Toyota are a huge company with the eception of a great range of over-priced 4WD and Hybrid vehicles they havn’t actually invented anything really new in the car world really. Just copied everyone else and IMO blandly as well.
I’m not knocking Toyota, they have proven themselves to be a sucessful company, stating they are crap would simply not be true.
Noname – everybody copies everybody … FACT – while every automanufactuer today utilises something invented by another. They are all no different so be fair with your critisms because the likes of GM and Ford today are trying to mimic the corprate structure of Toyota (Kaizen) to a certain point to bring stability back to thier structures. A thought fory ou to ponder.
That said … eliminated what competition – competition is all around !!
Bavarian – they may fall harder but they are also harder to make fall.
Forget about your Toyota bed, toilet, shower and what eva and concentrate on cars. Toyota make cars – that’s it and like i have said on numerous oocassions … who is force feeding you to read or acknowledge anything on Toyota !!
Morning Dingo……….with every boom there is a bust too.Will be interesting to see what impact the US going into recession will have on Toyota,seems the SUV market has taken a tumble for them!
Obviously I was having a bit of fun at Tony C on Toyota the supreme, I thought you would have backed off on the force feeding though and maybe just maybe have a blog on another thread without mentioning their name!
That Barbarian Missile must have mental problems.
Not mental problems Tony C just don’t take myself as seriously as you clearly do, you want to start insulting me????? Wouldn’t advise it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For god sake the end of the day there just bloody cars! They haven’t helped to create world peace ,found a cure for the cancer or taken over the world.
“with every boom there is a bust too.Will be interesting to see what impact the US going into recession will have on Toyota,seems the SUV market has taken a tumble for them!” – Agree… but look where Toyota also sells their cars, particularly Asia, where are their competitors in this field, last time I went to Indonesia, singapore the only cars there are: Toyota’s Mitsu’s Nissans, Occasional euros owned by the rich, No Ford/GM or any competitor close to their scale to the matter to be seen (unless through their subsidiaries), with a US recession It could fall harder for Toyota’s competitors who dont fully serve a greater world market and rely heavier on the US market.
Bavarian – the declining demands for larger cars in America will impact on ever manufactuer who sells SUV’s and no-doubt GM, Ford and Crysler will be hardest hit.
If they play thier cards right, they will be able to secure more sales with smaller vehicles instead.
Put it this way, Toyota is in a far more rebust position to wether ‘ups n downs’ then what their American counterparts are. That said, Toyota sales in the US including thier SUV’s remain strong with room to move. The brains behind Toyota are not idiots and are more informed about markets then what people like you and i are.
It’s called having fat on the system and Toyota has got alot of them. GM and Ford should be more of concern for you then Toyota.
And another point – while SUV sales may stagnate or even decline, Toyota hybrid alternatives are demand and no-doubt will increase… worth pondering !!
Sorry about the spelling mistakes above, i am in a rush. Back later !!
cheers
No need to apologise don’t read your dribble anyway.
You just did !!
1 hr 10 mins not bad
If you have insomnia and can’t sleep,stare at the picture at the top of the page for 5 mins.Guaranteed to send you straight to sleep…………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
1 hr 11 mins … !!
Sum people should have more resect for Toyota and what there done for Australia.During WW2 Toyota suppled Austrailan Armoured division with v6 aurion engines and skinner tank tracks to defend Oz against the Japanese.Kingford Smith the aussie aviator was sponsored by Toyota and also had toyota hybred engines in his plane.And who do you think made the horse the man from snowy river rode on.Us toyota boys reaily know our stuff not like you ford and holden fairys.
Wig Wom, your history is a bit skewed. The real history is:
Toyota planes bombed Peal Harbour, Toyota subs torpedoed ships at Darwin, the (supercharged) Toyota engines exploded and blew up the space shuttle, the Exon Valdese was built by Toyota, the Japanese whaling fleet is powered by Toyota (well financially they are!) and Aurion will be the the best Family 6 in Aus.
Can we stop comparing the Automotive industry to the IT Computer industry.. I mean if Cars were designed and buitl with the same technology as computers we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:
- For no reason at all your car would crash at least twice a day.. usually when you really need it to work
- Everytime they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car
- When performing a simple manouvre such as a left hand turn your car would shut down and you would have to re-install the engine
- Only one person could be in the car at a time unless you bought CarXP or later
- The Fuel Temperature and Oil gauges would be replaced with general Car Default warnings
- The Airbag system would say “Are You Sure?” before deploying
- Sometimes your car would lock you out and not let you back in until you simultaneously lifted the doorhndle; turned the key and kicked the front tyre
- Macintosh would build a car thats 5 times Faster as a Microsoft but would only work ion 5% of the roads
Thanks for more facts OsamaBin Toyota
TonyC – Hmm I think I know what the C stands for….
To simulate the feeling of driving a Toyota, take a valium and go driving. It explains why I always see Camry’s doing 20km/h below the speed limit. BTW Toyota means NOTHING to motorsport- why do they bother.
Wig Wom has a fine sense of humour laced with a solid serve of irony. Some people here with have to look up “irony”.
And majority have to find real humour!
And majority have to realise that testosterone is full on as most on here tunnelvision for one car make and cant think outside that square
Dingo,
you taught me something before i must admitt.
i sat back and thought for a bit and i realised that what you were saying about toyota not wanting to create overlaps in their range with the TRD was probably true.
you just have to look at what they have achieved.
They make a decent sports car and stable it under the Lexus badge, and then as to not detract from the lexus, they make a hopeless sports car and place it under the TRD umbrella. Ta DA!!!!! no over lap
now ill teach you something.
when i said this………
“yes toyotas vehicles are quite commonly placed near top of the tree in their classes, but how do you explain the fact that even their 2 biggest sellers are only perform mid pack in terms of offerings/abilities etc?”
i use my proof as the fact that reviews/tests place majority of toyotas stock at as mid pack stuff for their abilities.
just take toyotas 2 biggest sellers in the corolla and Hilux to name a couple.
neither of them are selling because they offer the best package.
the hilux isnt the best off roader and far far from the best value.
the corolla isnt the most efficient small car and nor is it the best value. in fact, find me a review that places the corolla avove mid pack in its class
Golf,
isnt “ironyng” what TP has to get done before his mum gets home?
Yes, Andrew M. :)
i hear you wig wom i respect toyotas because they were responsible for washing machine technology today,spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin.
and the aurion is the best family car full stop,beutifull front wheel drive handling,toyota styling and the ever popular super charged aurion super family car,reliable.