The Toyota Australia Altona Plant was a Toyota Australia manufacturing facility in the Melbourne suburb of Altona North.

History

The Toyota Australia Altona Plant opened in 1978, as Toyota's first engine plant outside of Japan.[1][2] Panel production began in 1983, before full vehicle production commenced in July 1994 with manufacture of the Corolla transferred from Port Melbourne followed in January 1995 by the Camry.[3][4] The expanded plant was opened by Prime Minister Paul Keating.[5]

Altona also manufactured the badge engineered Holden Apollo and Holden Novas. It exported cars to Brunei, Kuwait, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.[6][7]

In August 2012, Altona competed its one millionth vehicle for export.[7] In February 2014 Toyota announced the plant would close after it decided it would cease production in Australia.[8][9] This occurred in October 2017.[10][11]

The site was redeveloped with the former manufacturing building converted into a redevelopment facility which included vehicle design and testing studios, training rooms, a mock sales dealership, auditorium and 400 person bistro.[12][13][14] In 2024 Toyota began assembling and distributing stationary hydrogen fuel cell power generators at Altona.[15]

References

  1. ^ Toyota, AMI plans for expansion Canberra Times 21 August 1976 page 15
  2. ^ Toyota to build new plant Canberra Times 10 March 1977 page 21
  3. ^ Toyota expands Australian Jewish News 20 May 1983 page 26
  4. ^ Corollas rolling at Altona Canberra Times 9 September 1994 page 17
  5. ^ Toyota timeline: Carmaker's closure to end long history in Australia ABC News 11 February 2014
  6. ^ Toyota Opens New Plant in Altona Toyota 30 March 1995
  7. ^ a b Toyota Australia exports one-millionth car to Middle East Drive 26 September 2013
  8. ^ Toyota to close: Thousands of jobs to go as carmaker closes Australian plants by 2017 ABC News 19 February 2014
  9. ^ Toyota considers its Altona base Australian Financial Review 12 February 2014
  10. ^ Toyota workers out of jobs as car manufacturer closes Altona plant ABC News 3 October 2017
  11. ^ Toyota Ends Production in Australia After 54 Years Toyota 4 October 2017
  12. ^ Repurposing Toyota’s Altona factory into a Centre of Excellence JLL
  13. ^ Toyota opens State-of-the-Art Product Centre at Altona Torque Toyota 13 December 2021
  14. ^ Toyota Powertrain ADCO Constructions
  15. ^ Toyota to assemble and distribute stationary hydrogen fuel cell power generators GEH2 in Australia Toyota Australia 19 October 2023