First Chinese-built Toyota Camry rolls off production line

Just last week we mentioned Toyota's upcoming effort to push itself into a dominant position in the Chinese market, and on Tuesday the company moved one step closer to that goal when its first domestically-produced Camry rolled off the line.

Built in Toyota's brand-spankin'-new $475M assembly plant, the Chinese-built Camry will roll into dealers with a price tag in the $24,700 to $33,700 range. While that's a bit more than we're used to paying here in the US, it's a substantial price cut from the $42,500 that an imported Camry sold for in China (we're guessing that heavy tariffs were rolled into that figure).

Toyota's Nansha facility is only 54% automated - substantially less than the 80-90% levels found in Toyota plants elsewhere in the world - but the hourly wage for a worker is only $2. A substantial number of components for the Chinese Camry are said to still be imported instead of procured locally, but suppliers such as Denso are ramping up operations in the region.

[Source: AP]