Australian Auto Industry Near Extinction as Toyota Closes Plant

Toyota Motor Corp. shut down its assembly plant in Melbourne, Australia, today, bringing the country’s auto industry another step closer to extinction.

The only other functioning car factory in Australia, General Motors Co.’s Holden facility in Adelaide, will stop operations on Oct. 23. The two closures are eliminating 5,700 direct jobs thousands more in auto-related industries.

Ford shuttered its assembly plant and engine factor outside Melbourne last October after losing $600 million there over the previous five years.

The Associated Press says a study by the University of Adelaide estimates the evaporation of Australia’s auto industry represents a loss of as many as 200,000 jobs.

The collapse began decades ago as competition grew from lower-cost cars imported from Japan and South Korea. Australia’s relatively high costs and low productivity made local production less and less sustainable in spite of repeated rounds of government aid.

Those factors, coupled with unfavorable exchange rates, also hurt efforts to build export sales. Production peaked at 475,000 units in 1970 but slid to only 212,00 in 2012.