Altona production back to rights

Toyota has announced a return to normal production output for Camry and Aurion models built in Australia.

As a consequence of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in rapid succession during March, the company had reduced the output from its Altona plant in Melbourne's western suburbs to 50 per cent during May.

According to a press release issued by Toyota Motor Corporation Australia (TMCA) yesterday, the plant will resume building the Camry and Aurion models at the rate of up to 9000 units per month, supplying both the domestic market and exports.

"The impact of the Japan earthquake has placed significant pressure on our people, suppliers, dealers and customers. It has been an unprecedented time for us and our global Toyota colleagues," said Chris Harrod, Toyota's Executive Director of Manufacturing.

"Since March, Toyota Australia has worked closely with its stakeholders to manage parts supply shortages, vehicle production adjustments, reduced vehicle imports and sales and customer concerns. I want to thank employees for the effort and perseverance undertaken to get our manufacturing operations back on track earlier than expected."

The disruption at Altona had a worse impact on exports, it seems, than domestic sales.

"Approximately 70 per cent of the vehicles produced at Altona are exported to the Middle East, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands," said Harrod. "The reduced production volumes made fulfilling customer orders challenging, but by working with existing supply in the circumstances we were able to maintain good sales."

For the final month of the financial year, having the production at Altona return to normal has been a godsend for TMCA, but imports remain a sticking point. Harrod expects the supply of imports will take another month to meet local demand in full.

"In July Toyota Australia will receive almost the full quota of imported cars we ordered for the month well before Japan's natural disasters occurred," he said.

"For the rest of the year, we expect our business will basically be back to normal, thanks to a faster-than-expected pick-up in production in Japan and Thailand."

Before the end of the year, TMCA will introduce a new generation of Camry, also to be built at Altona. A Hybrid model will follow a few months later still.

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