Toyota turns a shade of green

Senior executives at Toyota Motor Corporation say a Camry hybrid is looking more and more likely, with one pointing to a production plan within the lifespan of the current car — which means within three years.

Australia will still have to beat opposition from Thailand, which is becoming an Asian production hub for Camry, and worries at TMC about future support from the Federal Government and the current strength of the Australian dollar.

But Tokuichi Uranishi, the executive vice-president of Toyota Motor Corporation, says the signs are good.

Speaking at the Tokyo Motor Show, he predicted a decision within a short timeframe, possibly within a year, as his company aims for an early start to local production of the Camry hybrid.

“I am thinking about the possiblity to introduce the hybrid version, even on the current model. It depends on the government,” Uranishi says.

“The basic arrangements should be suitable for that type of production.”

The Camry hybrid was originally aimed at the US, where Toyota is doing very well with its Prius, but there is growing demand from other countries including Australia and in the Middle East. The company is now looking at other production locations and management at Toyota Australia has been pushing for local assembly since the car was first revealed in the United States.

“The Camry hybrid will be our main hybrid system, so production in Australia is very likely,” the TMC executive in charge of research and development, Kazuo Okamoto, says.

“Hybrid system is a very delicate system. We are narrowing down the list of candidate countries for production and I think in a little while we will be able to increase volume so we will be able then to disperse production in several countries.”

He steers clear of the politics of the move and, unlike Uranishi, is not convinced the green machine will be ready for production by 2010.

“Probably not within the lifetime of this current model. Maybe the next generation model, by that time for sure,” Okamoto says.

“It depends on which components we will be using from Australia and which will come from Japan. We have to make that decision.”