Toyota has officially announced that the final example of the Aurion has left the production line at the company's Altona plant, west of Melbourne.
The V6 sedan is being put out to pasture two months ahead of the shut-down of the Altona plant, after 11 years of domestic and export production. According to the company, the Aurion has sold over 110,000 units in Australia, plus 70,000 more in foreign markets.
For the moment, Altona will continue to build the current four-cylinder Camry and Hybrid right up to the plant closure. After that, a fully-imported model will succeed the local cars and will offer a V6 engine in addition to four-cylinder and hybrid variants. This V6 Camry will replace the Aurion around the time that Holden's own plant closure at Elizabeth in South Australia spells the end of the locally-built V6 Commodore.
Toyota plans to end manufacture of the Camry Hybrid in September, leaving just the conventional Camry four-cylinder in production right up to the end in October.
When the Aurion, an Australian-styled model developed uniquely for the local market, was introduced in 2006, Toyota revealed it was named for 'tomorrow' in ancient Greek. Within just a few years the Aurion became a template for 'the prestige Camry' built and sold in other markets around the world.