Akio Toyoda, global boss of Toyota, lands in Australia for secret mission

THE boss of the world’s biggest car maker, Toyota, is in Australia on a top secret assignment — but the company insists it’s not to shut the factory early.

Badge on 2007 Toyota LandCruiser 4WD wagon.

AKIO Toyoda, the boss of the world’s biggest car company, Toyota, has secretly flown into Australia — but insiders insist it is not to announce an early shutdown of the Toyota Camry factory in Altona.

The 55-year-old grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda flew by private jet to Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast of New South Wales on Monday, according to locals.

News Corp Australia understands he has met up with a convoy of 12 Toyota cars being driven by Japanese engineers on a 20,000km, 72-day research trip around Australia, to better develop future cars to suit Australia’s harsh conditions.

RELATED: TOYOYA AUSTRALIA FACTORY SHUTDOWN

MORE: TOYOTA WORKERS GET $200 MILLION PAYOUT

Global boss ... Akio Toyoda leaves the media press conference followed by Max Yasuda, the boss of Toyota Australia, after announcing the end of local production in 2017. Picture: Supplied.

Toyota initially would not confirm that Mr Toyoda is in Australia but Coffs Harbour locals say he has been in town for at least a day.

A statement from Toyota Australia spokeswoman Beck Angel on Tuesday afternoon said: “I can confirm that the global president (of Toyota) is in Australia for an internal activity.”

The company has declined News Corp Australia requests for an interview.

Toyota’s around-Australia test drive is expected to finish in Melbourne on Thursday, when Mr Toyoda will address the evaluation team on arrival, as well as the 2500 factory workers.

It is Mr Toyoda’s first visit to Australia since he announced to factory workers in person on February 10 that the Camry assembly line in Altona would close by the end of 2017.

Coming soon ... an updated Toyota Camry will go into production at Altona in 2015. Picture: Supplied.

Toyota Australia insists it plans to continue manufacturing until its 2017 deadline even though sales of locally-made cars have declined dramatically in recent months.

The Ford Falcon posted its lowest ever monthly sales in October (with 396 deliveries) while Holden Commodore sales are down by 33 per cent compared with the same month the previous year.

The Camry, which is normally a steady seller, was also down by 15 per cent in October.

Toyota will introduce an updated Camry early next year, which will carry the factory through until its closure in three years before switching to an imported model.

The next Camry will likely be imported from Thailand, the next Holden Commodore is expected to come from Germany, while the European-built Ford Mondeo is likely to replace the Falcon in the long term.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling