Aussie Camry turns 21

TOYOTA Australia has celebrated the 21st birthday of the locally-built Camry.

The first locally-assembled Camry rolled of Toyota’s now-defunct Port Melbourne assembly line in 1987.

Production shifted to Altona in 1994 and a new Camry production record of 111,891 was set last year.

All up, 1.3 million Australian-made Camrys have been produced since 1987, comprising a large chunk of the 2.5 million cars Toyota has built locally.

The Camry is also Australia’s biggest automotive export, with 85,300 cars exported to 20 countries and the majority headed for the Middle East.

Only two other Australian-made nameplates have been produced for longer than the Camry: the Ford Falcon that dates back to 1960 and the Holden Commodore that was introduced in 1978.

“Camry has achieved remarkable popularity with local and export buyers over an extended period,” said Toyota Australia sales and marketing director David Buttner.

“It has evolved successfully through six generations with new technologies that have kept it at the forefront of the industry,” he said.

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