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First look at last car to be made in Australia

The new Toyota Camry, unveiled at the 2014 New York motor show, is set to be the last car ever made in Australia.

TOYOTA has given the first look at the last car that will be made in Australia: the next generation Camry. If Australia’s three remaining car makers stick to their plans, Ford will close its production lines by the end of 2016, Holden will shut its factory doors in 2017 and Toyota will be last to lock the gates in 2018.

The Camry has been Australia’s top-selling medium-sized sedan for a staggering 20 years in a row. In North America, the Toyota Camry has been the top-selling car outright for the past 12 years, with one built every 65 seconds.

The new Camry, with its bold new nose and sleek design, was unveiled at the New York motor show overnight. With almost 2000 new parts, the new Camry is the biggest facelift for the model in the shortest period of time. Every panel has changed except the roof.

Customarily, mid-life updates are introduced after three years on sale, and don’t include such radical changes. But Toyota has brought forward the facelift -- and created an almost-new car -- after just two years amid concerns the current model did not look new enough.

Toyota has loaded the 2015 Camry with new technology and equipment, including making the carpet 30 per cent thicker to improve quietness. The new Toyota Camry is due to be built in North America and the seven other factories that make the model later this year.

But the new Camry isn’t due to go into production at Toyota Australia’s factory in Altona, on the outskirts of Melbourne, until early next year. Toyota Australia was forced to adopt the new look otherwise it would have risked losing its export business to the Middle East, which takes 70 per cent of Altona’s Camry production. Toyota Australia received $30 million in Federal Government funding in August 2013 to go towards the changes for the new model.