At least two car component manufacturers are set to close in the wake of Toyota's decision to cease manufacturing in Melbourne in October, meaning hundreds more jobs will be lost.
The 600 job losses are in addition to the 2,500 staff directly employed by Toyota who will be made redundant.
The ABC understands management at Toyota Boshoku, a car seat manufacturer in Derrimut in Melbourne's west, will announce on Friday all 350 workers will lose their jobs in October.
Croydon-based Denso in the city's east, which makes car air-conditioning units and ignition systems, has previously signalled it will sack 250 workers once Toyota pulls out.
"It's been going on for three to four years now," a worker at Toyota Boshuko said.
"Everybody's numb."
The worker, who did not want to be named, said many of the employees spoke English as a second language and would struggle to find work elsewhere.
"People didn't make an effort to speak English because their whole teams operated in their own languages," she said.
"But we'll worry about it as the closing date gets closer."
Manufacturers were waiting for Toyota to announce date
Components importer and manufacturer Toyota Tsusho confirmed to the ABC it would also have significant job losses because of Toyota's decision.
However a spokeswoman said the October date had given the company its workers some certainty about the timing.
Workers there are expected to learn their fate in the coming months, however they have been told the company will be downsizing.
Toyota had previously announced it would end manufacturing in Australia in 2017, but yesterday confirmed the date would be October 3.
Many car component manufacturers have been waiting for Toyota to confirm its end date before they made decisions around the future of their own companies.
The Australian Manufacturing and Workers Union (AMWU) said thousands of jobs from the component's industry would be cut over the coming weeks.
"Some companies are trying to diversify, but the majority will be closing," AMWU's Dave Smith said.
"The flow on effect will be huge."
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