Toyota to build Australia’s first hybrid

Posted by Nathan on August 10, 2007

Ford and Holden said it couldn’t be done, but Toyota is out to further differentiate itself in the Australian market by building the first locally produced hybrid car.

 Dave Buttner, Toyota’s head of sales in Australia, has confirmed that a hybrid version of either the Camry or Aurion will be built in the manufacturer’s Altona plant, in northern Melbourne. Toyota already markets two of the three hybrid vehicles available in Australia – the Prius and the Lexus RX400h – and the new addition is likely to contain the same Hybrid Synergy Drive technology that exists in the best-selling Prius model, should it follow the hybrids that Toyota markets in the US.

“We want to be the first local manufacturer with green credentials. We want to be known as the company that was first to market,” Buttner says. “We want to be the leader on this issue. We have been looking at the Camry and Aurion for the hybrid and it’s looking like the Aurion. It will go on sale in 2011 or 2012.”

(Source: Daily Telegraph)