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NEWS
Camry sourcing known soon
Toyota hopes imported Camry and Aurion announcement will stop misconceptionsThe source of the post-2017 imported Camry and Aurion is expected to be known sooner rather than later, as Toyota battles customer misconception it is withdrawing completely from the Australian market.
Toyota announced on February 10 that it would cease building the Camry and Aurion at its Altona planet no later than the end of 2017 but would continue to sell both models beyond that date as imports.
Its decision followed on from Ford’s May 2013 announcement it would cease manufacturing by October 2016 and Holden’s confirmation of its intention to become an importer by the end of 2017.
However, Toyota has revealed it is concerned about public confusion regarding its future and believes announcing where the imported Camry and Aurion will be imported from will help resolve that.
The only problem is, as Toyota's executive director sales and marketing Tony Cramb told motoring.com.au at this week’s 11th generation Corolla Sedan in Tasmania, the decision is yet to be made by Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).
“It’s probably in our interests to announce as soon as we can,” confirmed Cramb. “So it wouldn’t surprise me if we were to announce the source earlier than we might normally, just to help overcome that misconception.”
Up to three plants are believed to be in the running to supply Australia, as well as take over the Middle East Camry export program that had sustained Altona in recent years. They are thought to be Toyota’s Thai plant, the massive Kentucky operation in the USA or a new plant being built in Indonesia.
In 2013 Altona built 106,000 Camrys, Camry Hybrids and Aurions and 108,000 four-cylinder engines. Toyota sold 31,699 Camrys and Aurions in Australia.
Cramb confirmed the sourcing announcement was part of a much wider strategy to spread the word to Toyota customers that Toyota was hanging around as an importer post-2017. However, he ruled out a Holden-style high-profile advertising campaign to get the message across.
“Essentially there is no change for the customer, but at the moment there is a fear that is not going to be the case. So we have to overcome that.
“So in our discussions with the press we are going to try and get that message across. We won’t have an advertising campaign as such that says ‘we are here to stay’. We won’t do something like that.
“But clearly in our marketing actions it will become obvious that Toyota is going to find another way to contribute to the community other than manufacturing and that our presence will somehow be increased.”
Cramb said communications with customers via dealers had started the day after the closure announcement.
“We are going one by one to our customer base saying ‘nothing changes really’. The source of the vehicle changes enormously for us, but for the customer there is essentially no change.
“This is not unlike Kluger which we are about to launch, or the Corolla Sedan we are launching this week, where we have re-sourced from a different location.”
Kluger production has shifted from Japan to the USA, while Corolla Sedan has swapped from Japan to Thailand.
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Written byBruce Newton
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