Toyota Australia’s Melbourne manufacturing plant produced a record number of cars in the first three months of 2007.
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The automaker, a supply source of the Camry for Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, said its 3,000-strong workforce built more than 33,000 of the cars in the quarter – an increase of 22.4% over the same period last year.
The company said the increased production was due primarily to higher local demand, which was up more than 50% in the three months.
Toyota builds the four-cylinder Camry and the V6 version – called Aurion in Australia – at the plant at Altona in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Both cars are sold in Australia and exported to around 20 countries. Overseas sales are expected to reach 90,000 this year with the biggest demand coming from the Middle East.
In Australia, sales of the two locally manufactured car lines were more than 11,400 in the first three months of the year, an increase of 51.2% over the same three months of 2006 (when the previous generation was still on sale).
The success of the Camry and Aurion helped Toyota post a first-quarter Australian industry sales record of 56,230 vehicles.
First-quarter production of 33,631 cars makes Australia the third biggest Camry and Aurion producer outside Japan. Only the United States and China build more.
