Production Wind-Down Costly for Toyota Australia
The automaker blames the A$437 million loss on restructuring costs resulting from its decision to stop building cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017.
Toyota Australia is finding breaking up is expensive to do.
The automaker reports it plunged into an after-tax loss of A$437 million ($410.8 million) in the year ended March 31, a sharp reversal from the A$144 million ($135.4 million) profit the year before.
It blames the loss on restructuring costs resulting from its decision to stop building cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017.
Those costs totaled A$889 million ($836.2 million) and included A$505 million ($475 million) in asset writedowns and A$384 million ($361.2 million) for staff layoffs.
Without those costs Toyota Australia made a pretax profit of A$266 million ($250.2 million). Major contributors were sales of 221,771 Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
Local production of Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion vehicles was up slightly with 102,590 units built.
Annual revenue fell 5.6% to A$8.4 billion ($7.9 billion) from A$8.9 billion ($8.4 billion) the previous year.
Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner says it was a mixed year for the automaker.
Despite the positive results, “There were too many external factors beyond our control that made it unsustainable to continue building cars and engines in Australia in the mid- to long-term future,” he says in a statement. “Our focus is now on supporting our employees and ensuring that we have the correct provisions in place as we transition to a national sales and distribution company.”
Toyota Australia employs 3,900 people throughout the country.
Buttner says Toyota retained its overall market leadership in 2013 for the 11th consecutive year, with the Corolla the top-selling vehicle and strong sales of a number of other vehicles, including the HiLux and the locally built Camry.
“Our export program also continued to play a significant role in our overall business plan, with more than 67,000 vehicles exported to the Middle East, New Zealand and South Pacific Islands,” he says.
GM Holden is joining Toyota in halting vehicle production in 2017, following Ford, which will shutter its plant in 2016.
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