Toyota in Canada: 60 years, 60 pictures from coast to coast (Part 1)

　　Last August, Toyota embarked on a slightly deranged road trip, crossing Canada from coast to coast, to celebrate its 60th year on Canadian soil. 60 years since the company launched its activities here, in a very modest way, need we remind you. To mark the occasion, Toyota had a bunch of us cross the country in its vehicles.

　　See also: Toyota Canada Turns 60: From Coast to Coast We Go

　　The mega-road trip was divided into six stages or waves. What began in St. Johns, Newfoundland, ended in Victoria, British Columbia some five weeks later. Along the way there were stops in Halifax, Montreal, North Bay, Winnipeg and Calgary, not to mention Quebec City, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Vancouver, among others.

　　Each of the six waves had its own select group of journalists to propel the vehicles westward. Due to a combination of circumstances, Auto123 found itself on three of the six waves, meaning we covered half of Canada in Toyota vehicles.

　　Your humble servant took part in the first stage (St. Johns to Halifax), as well as stages 3 and 4, which spanned Montreal to Winnipeg.

　　As you can guess, it was a memorable trip, with targeted and strategic stops, here to visit a standout dealership, there to a place that was important in Toyotas history, or else a point of interest along the way.

　　How can we sum it all up for you, without boring you, and without keeping you captive for hours on end because of the sheer volume of stories to be told? With two photo galleries recounting the essence of this unique road trip journey across Canada. In all, 60 pictures, worth, we hope, a thousand words each.

　　St. Johns to North Bay

　　Thee first half of that road trip took us from St. Johns at the eastern tip of the country, all the way to North Bay, Ontario.

　　Kilometer 0

　　Its a tradition just about everywhere on the planet, and always a fun point of interest for tourists... or adventurers. Were talking here about the starting point of a route, often identified as kilometer or mile 0. The one pictured here marks the start of the Trans-Canada Highway, which, as its name suggests, crosses the country. It was inaugurated in 1962.

　　St. Johns, Newfoundland

　　We took a bunch of snapshots in St. Johns, but this one is a good representation of the city, one of whose main commercial activities is fishing. It was here that we had our first dinner together, on the eve of our road trip.

　　2025 Toyota Crown Signia

　　For each wave of the trip, four vehicles were made available, which we all rotated through en route. Sometimes that was planned, sometimes not. Two of them made the entire trip, coast-to-coast: the Crown Signia and the Land Cruiser. Why those two? In 1964, Toyota brought the Crown sedan and Land Cruiser SUV to Canada. A great way to come full circle.

　　1979 Toyota Cressida

　　No, this 1979 Cressida didnt make the trip with us. It was lent to us for a few hours on our first day, courtesy the owner of a dealership near St-Johns. We wasted no time getting behind the wheel and adding some 25 km to its odometer (which only counted some 86,000).

　　2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid

　　This Corolla hybrid was part of the fleet of vehicles in this first wave, but whats important here is where the car is photographed, on the site where Toyotas first plant was built in the country, in the Cape Breton region. The field is empty today, but it was special to be where it all began for the company in this country, and where Canadian Toyotas were built in 1968.

　　2024 Toyota GR86

　　We had to draw straws to get behind the wheel of this GR86 Trueno, especially for the portion of the route taking us along the famous Cabot Trail.

　　Arrival at the ferry

　　To get from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia by car, you need to take the ferry operated by Marine Atlantic. The crossing takes six to seven hours, more if the sea decides not to cooperate. When we arrived, we couldnt even see the ship in the dense fog. This picture was taken around 11:30 a.m., just as we readied to embark.

　　Newfoundland-Nova Scotia ferry | Photo: D. Rufiange