Toyota Australia has officially opened its new engine plant in Altona, Melbourne, to produce gasoline and hybrid AR engines, reports the Herald Sun. The plant will produce 108,000 engines next year, with 15% of them being hybrid. The engines will be used in Toyota's locally-built Camry and Camry hybrid sedans; the vehicles would be shipped to local export markets including Thailand and Malaysia. The plant was built with a total investment of AUD330m (USD345.45m), of which the federal government contributed AUD63m (USD65m) from its Green Car Innovation Fund. Meanwhile, Max Yasuda, President and CEO of Toyota Australia stated that the automaker is keen to bring hydrogen-powered cars to Australia once it rolls out the new technology in Japan and the US in 2015. Toyota Australia plans to launch trial cars in the country by 2015, with mass production dependent on adequate demand.
Significance: The new plant opening is in line with the automaker's plans to increase production of fuel-efficient engines in the country and supply the upcoming Asian export markets such as Malaysia. The Toyota gasoline-electric hybrid engine plant is the first of its kind to be built outside of Japan and makes Australia one of the only four countries capable of producing the AR-series 4-cylinder engines. The new plant will help raise the company's production levels to 108,000 units next year from the expected 95,000 units this year. Production at the plant will also boost exports to upcoming Asian markets, which is a boon for the automaker in these testing times when car manufacturing in Australia is suffering as a result of changing consumer preferences and reduced cost competitiveness. Earlier this year, Toyota had to cut 350 jobs at Altona plant.
