Camry - built in Australia for 24 years
Aug 23, 2011 By Toyota Australia.
Toyota has produced more than 1.6 million Camry sedans in Australia since commencing production of the car in 1987.
Camry has been Australia's best-selling mid-size car for the past 17 years running and is the country's leading automotive export.
Shipments to the Middle East, Toyota Australia's main export market, began in 1996 and have taken off since the early 2000s.
So far, Camry deliveries to overseas customers have topped 850,000 - half of all Camrys produced in Australia.
Today, approximately 75 per cent of Toyota's local production - built at the company's Altona factory in Melbourne - is destined for overseas customers.
Last year, more than 70,000 Altona-built Camry sedans were exported.
Camry is a global car and the backbone of Toyota. Nearly 15 million have been sold in more than 100 countries.
Last year, 60,000 Camrys a month were delivered to customers around the world. Half were sold in the United States and about one-fifth in China.
Remarkably, Australia is the third-biggest country for Camry sales with more than 25,000 delivered to local customers last year.
Toyota Australia's senior executive director of sales and marketing David Buttner said the global reveal of the next-generation Camry, including the unique-to-Australia Camry Atara, was a special moment for Australia.
'It was in Australia that Toyota first tasted success beyond its Japanese domestic market,' Mr Buttner said.
'Local breakthroughs include the first LandCruiser imports from the late 1950s, the first production outside Japan from 1963 and the first country to export Camry apart from the parent company itself.'
'It is a proud record which has earned Australia a special place in Toyota's history,' he said.