Toyota Motor will stop making cars in Australia by the end of 2017, the automaker said in the official press release.
According to Agence France-Presse, as soon as Toyota closes the factories in the country, Australia’s auto manufacturing will virtually come to a grinding halt. The Japanese corporation used to be the largest carmaker in the country.
The Toyota representatives told that there were some reasons for the shutdown. Increasing competition in imports, the strong Australian dollar, and high manufacturing costs make the production in the country unprofitable. Toyota Motor Corporation Australia is supposed to be reorganized into a sales company. Besides, the giant will assist the former employees to find new workplaces, said at Toyota.
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has already warned that the Toyota’s departure from Australia’s market might provoke recession in the country. The local Toyota division, which was established in 1959, employed about 3,900 people.
However, Toyota is not the first company to stop operating in Australia. Ford would be ending its production in the country by 2017. Mitsubishi made its mind to discontinue building cars there in 2008. In December 2013, another auto giant General Motors also announced about the closing up in Australia. That will result a loss of 2,900 jobs.
