Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) has said on it would stop making cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017. Toyota’s decision follows the planned exits of General Motors (GM.N) and Ford Motor (F.N) announced last year and would leave no global automaker remaining in Australia as high costs and a strong currency make it an unattractive production base.
“We did everything that we could to transform our business, but the reality is that there are too many factors beyond our control that make it unviable to build cars in Australia,” Toyota Australia President Max Yasuda said in a statement.
About 2,500 jobs will be affected when the plant stops building cars in 2017, the company said.
Toyota’s exit from Australia after more than half a century there is a setback to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservative government, which is seeking to manage a slowdown in the $1.5 trillion economy as a decade-long mining investment boom slows.
“This is obviously devastating news for everyone involved with Toyota. It’s devastating for me and for the government,” Abbott said in Canberra.
