Farewell Toyota: Australian Manufacturing ended today – Here’s some interesting facts and figures

It’s a milestone day for Toyota in Australia, and a sad one for the staff – Toyota has officially ceased production of cars in Australia after more than half a century.

3,000 people attended a ceremony today at the Altona plant where Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner spoke glowingly of the staff and their production “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,” Mr Buttner said.

“It is your efforts that have helped Toyota become a byword for quality, for reliability and for trust wherever you go in Australia.”

And while others will cover the closure in great detail, here’s some really staggering and interesting facts about Toyota Australia you can use for your next Pub Triva contest.

1. 2007 was the highest production year for Toyota Australia with 148,931 cars coming down the line.
2. In that same year October was the biggest month ever with 15,355 cars
3. The Middle East was the biggest export market for Toyota Australia – taking 1,245,914

And while that’s a large amount, the overall total number of cars built in Australia by Toyota was a staggering 3,451,115.

That kicked off when Australia became the first country outside of Japan to product Toyota cars in 1963 with the Tiara.  1,684 were made over two years before the Corona started rolling down the line and did so for 23 years producing 336,197 vehicles.

The Classic Crown was in there too, 46,690 of those were made, while it’s more likely the Corolla and Camry that Australia’s Toyota factory can be most proud of.  601,104 Corollas were made here until 1999, while the Camry was produced here over 30 years until the very end with 2,168,104 vehicles made.

There were a few other models too, the Holden Apollo – a rebadged Camry (40,287), and the Holden Nova a rebadged Corolla (28,128) among them – along with the Avalon and Aurion (44,741 and 184,180 respectively)

Export was king for the Camry, and it could be argued the Camry Hybrid was in fact the most advanced produced in Australia – the Hybrid Drive train was nothing to laugh at.

Toyota will now consolidate it’s national operations into Melbourne by 2018 with the closure of the Toyota HQ in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney.