First local hybrid rolls off line

The company's first hybrid version of the Camry headed down the Altona production line on Monday, ahead of full-scale production starting in November. Initially 60 pilot cars will be built to test components and assembly procedures. But buyers will have to wait until February until it hits showrooms.

Victorian Premier John Brumby and Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr were on hand with company executives at Altona to spruik the Toyota achievement. Carr said the newest hybrid was a significant step towards a greener, more sustainable automotive industry.

The hybrid version of Toyota's successful four-cylinder sedan is expected to cost about $33,000, $3000 more than the standard car. However, it will be 20 per cent more economical and have lower operating costs than the petrol version. The sales forecast is 10,000 a year with 300 to be exported to New Zealand.

The company's senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner, said the car would help the environment "as well as the hip pocket of Australian motorists. "The Camry hybrid will save owners $10 a week in fuel costs and cut their car's harmful CO2 emissions by one tonne a year," he said. A driver travelling 50,000km a year could save up to more than $26 a week and 2.5 tonnes of CO2, he said.

Buttner said securing local production was a significant milestone for the company. It would pave the way for helping secure local Camry production into the future and protect jobs and local manufacturing, he said. "There are only five Toyota plants in the world that build this car," Buttner said.

Buttner said the car would be pitched to environmentally conscious Australians. He expects 25 per cent of Camry hybrid buyers to be mums and dads, with the rest government and fleet buyers.

Like the company's small Prius hatch, the Camry hybrid uses a four-cylinder engine and small electric motor, called Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive system. The hybrid battery recharges itself while driving and it will run on the electric motor alone at low speeds. Initially most of the hybrids components, including its electric motor, will be sourced from Japan. Critics have slammed the taxpayer-funded investment in the car and its lack of local sourcing of components.

The Federal Government has committed $35 million as part of its green car innovation fund while the Victorian Government is believed to have pledged $15 million. Butter said to achieve necessary economies of scale, hybrid production would have to reach 35,000 to 40,000 before there was any significant local sourcing of components.

"But there is no reason that down the track, as we expand the hybrid range, that there can't be more local suppliers bought on board," he said. Toyota is planning to introduce eight new hybrids over the next four years and aims to have a hybrid model available in every model by 2020.