Australian Motor Industries

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AMI emblem attached on American Motors cars assembled during 1968-1978

Australian Motor Industries (AMI) was an automobile assembly firm that was significant in the early history of the automobile industry in Australia.

1 Start of production
2 Reorganization
3 Operations with AMC
4 Toyota and buyout
5 Notes

[edit] Start of production

A company called Eclipse Motors was established in the 1920s for the purpose of imported automobile distribution in Australia. The business expanded into automobile production at its Port Melbourne, Victoria location starting in 1952 under a new name: Standard Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. The objective of the franchise for building cars in Australia was to avoid high import taxes, to provide local employment, and possibly establish an indigenous automobile industry.

Therefore, the Port Melbourne assembly plant became a birthplace for the Australian motor industry. The factory imported complete knock down (CKD) kits and had the capacity to assemble about 100 vehicles per day.

The company was listed on the Melbourne Stock Exchange as Standard Motor Products Ltd - the majority shareholder being Standard Triumph International.

It produced British models made by the Standard Motor Company and the Triumph Motor Company (which Standard had acquired in 1946). These cars were the Vanguard, Standard 8 and 10, and Triumph. In addition, the company manufactured the Ferguson tractor (Standard held the license for the manufacture of these tractors, and they provided the 4-cylinder wet sleeve engine (ex Vanguard).

The Vanguard was Standard's mainstay in the Australian market. The automobile was conceived by Standard's Managing Director, Sir John Black, as a car for sale in overseas markets - particularly Australia. From its introduction in 1949, it was one of the few genuine competitors to the Holden during the 1950s.

By 1956, the Standard Motor Company employed over 1600 workers at its modern assembly plant in Port Melbourne and the company had an extensive dealer network all over Australia.^[1]

[edit] Reorganization

The company ran into financial trouble in the late-1950s and the company regrouped and in 1958 was renamed Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Besides Standard vehicles, the AMI assembly plant now assembled Mercedes-Benz cars from Germany, as well as a full range of American Motors (AMC) vehicles from the United States. Other brands of cars were also assembled at the facility. These included the Triumph 6-cylinder range: the 2000, 2.5PI, and 2500TC. In the Australian market, the local assembly of these cars gave them a distinct price advantage over their UK rival, the Rover 2000. As a result, the Triumphs considerably outsold the equivalent Rovers, and these cars continue to be seen on Australian roads.

Also, for a brief time, AMI assembled the Triumph Herald, but it was to prove unsuccessful- the car was too fragile, with a tendency for windows to pop out on rough unmade roads.

[edit] Operations with AMC

AMI assembled a broad range of AMC cars, all with right-hand drive and carried the Rambler brand name. This means that Australians could purchase a Rambler Javelin, AMX, Hornet, or Matador long after the Rambler marque was dropped from use on the equivalent U.S.-made models.^[2]

Complete knock down kits were shipped from AMC's Kenosha, Wisconsin or Brampton, Ontario facilities, but the Australian cars were built with a percentage of "local content" to gain tariff concessions. This was done using parts and components (such as seats, carpet, lights, and heaters) from local Australian suppliers. American Motors cars were built in Port Melbourne by AMI up to 1978. The company retained a niche market as the sole U.S. sourced cars available in the Australian marketplace. For example, the Government of New South Wales selected the Rambler Rebel and Matador as "VIP" transport in the 1970s.

[edit] Toyota and buyout

The first Toyota ever built outside Japan was assembled by AMI in April 1963: the Toyota Tiara.^[3] The AMI production of Toyotas expanded in the 1960s to also include the Crown, Corona, and Corolla assembled at AMI's Port Melbourne factory. As a fast growing company, Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan took a controlling interest in AMI in 1968, as well as a 40% share in Thiess Holdings, an importer of light commercial vehicles, which it renamed Thiess Toyota.^[4]

Recognizing the majority owner of the company and the products that it manufactured and marketed, AMI renamed itself as AMI Toyota Ltd in 1985. The company continued to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a minority Australian shareholding until 1987, when Toyota moved to acquire the shares held by the remaining shareholders.

The Japanese company then amalgamated the company with its other Australian operations in 1989 to form two arms. Toyota Motor Corporation Australia which was responsible for passenger vehicles and Toyota Motor Sales Australia which was responsible for both Toyota commercial vehicles and Hino trucks.^[5]

Toyota vehicle production was transferred from the historic Port Melbourne factory to the company’s new $420 million facility at Altona, Victoria in 1994. In an interesting turn of operations, the Australian facility now exports CKD kits to assembly plants in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.