Australia's automotive manufacturing sector could disappear within a few years, a business expert warns.
After Holden's decision to stop production in 2017, and with Ford winding up operations in 2016, Dr Stephen Clibborn believes it will be difficult for Toyota to continue.
This will not only cost 50,000 automotive manufacturing jobs, but will affect components' producers and associated industries, the University of Sydney business school's expert said.
"In the short to medium term, there's a very real chance that Toyota will follow suit," he told AAP.
"There's a very real chance of the entire automotive manufacturing sector disappearing from Australia within the next few years."
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Dr Clibborn said throwing money at the sector wouldn't save it, but only delay the inevitable.
And significant amounts would have to be offered regularly to keep the industry going.
"It's a much more complicated picture. There are so many pressures at play," he told AAP.
"The Australian dollar appreciating greatly; fuel prices rising significantly; the reliance of Ford and Holden on large vehicles for much of the last few decades; tariff protection has dropped from a high of 57.5 per cent in the 80s to five per cent now."
He agreed with Holden boss Mike Devereux's comments that a "perfect storm" of factors had forced the company to close its Australian plants.
"It was definitely a perfect storm that came to a head in 2008/2009, when you threw the GFC into the mix, they have not been able to recover to a steady profit since then."
Australian manufacturers should focus on high end and innovative products as they cannot compete with mass-production operations in countries with lower wage costs and weaker currencies, Dr Clibborn said.
