DHAKA: Toyota is to end its vehicle and engine production in Australia by the end of 2017, affecting thousands of jobs.

It also announced plans to close its Australian sales subsidiary and said it could scale down the operations of its development and technical centre there.

Toyota said high manufacturing costs had forced it to make a ‘painful decision’.

Last year, Ford and General Motors’ Holden unit also announced plans to stop producing cars in Australia.

Toyota’s exit will leave Australia with no more car manufacturers, effectively ending the local industry.

‘We believed that we should continue producing vehicles in Australia, and Toyota and its workforce here made every effort,’ Toyota Motor Company president Akio Toyoda said, reports the BBC.

‘However, various negative factors such as an extremely competitive market and a strong Australian dollar, together with forecasts of a reduction in the total scale of vehicle production in Australia, have forced us to make this painful decision.’

The Japanese auto giant, which first began making cars in Australia in 1963, said it ‘intends to provide the best support it can, including employment assistance’ to those affected by the decision.

BDST: 1416 HRS, FEB 10, 2014