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Toyota Canada Turns 60: From Coast to Coast We Go

The 2024 Toyota Crown Signia, on Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland | Photo: D.Boshouwers
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Derek Boshouwers
If you’re a carmaker turning 60, how do you mark the milestone? With a road trip, of course!

“Canada’s Car Company.” The automaker behind that tagline is of course Toyota Canada, which sells more cars here than any other. And with the division celebrating 60 years of operation in our country, bright minds came up with the idea of celebrating it with a little 9,000-km, coast-to-coast road trip. One featuring a host of the carmaker’s newest and brightest models, of course, but really starring some amazing scenery.

Auto123 was on hand for the start of it all at Cape Spear in Newfoundland, the easternmost point of North America. We’re also on board for current segments taking the loose convoy through Ontario and across the prairies. We’ll have more on those soon.

| Photo: D.Boshouwers
Signal Hill, in St. John's, Newfoundland
Signal Hill, in St. John's, Newfoundland | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Kanreki: Cycling through the zodiac
The thing about 60 is this: In Japan, it’s more than just a birthday with a zero on it. Reaching that age means a person has cycled through the Chinese zodiac five times and is back on their birth sign. Toyota Canada is a dragon, by the way.

Explained Stephen Beatty, Corporate Secretary at Toyota Canada, to the gathered group of bleary-eyed auto journalists gathered on an early morning last week in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Kanreki “represents a ‘rebirth’ – an opportunity to reflect on one’s life, take stock of the present, and prepare for the future.”

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid and 2024 Toyota GR86
The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid and 2024 Toyota GR86 | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid and 2024 Toyota Crown Signia
The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid and 2024 Toyota Crown Signia | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser
The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser | Photo: D.Boshouwers

In terms of vehicles, Toyota provided our group with a little bit of past, but mostly of present and future. We had use of the 2024 Land Cruiser, Corolla Hybrid and GR86, as well as the 2025 Crown Signia. Our segment would take us from Cape Spear across the interior of Newfoundland and then down into Nova Scotia, via a ferry, and then the gorgeous Cabot Trail, with Halifax our endpoint. Here’s a visual rundown of our memorable journey.

A ’79 Cressida!
Before leaving St. John’s for points westward, we were able to take a short drive in a well-preserved 1979 Toyota Cressida, courtesy the good people at Toyota Plaza. No tape deck (we had no tapes to put in it anyways), and the brakes required pumping to gain strength, but otherwise it displayed all the luxury the model offered customers at the time!

The 1979 Toyota Cressida belonging to the family behind Toyota Plaza in St. John's, Newfoundland
The 1979 Toyota Cressida belonging to the family behind Toyota Plaza in St. John's, Newfoundland | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 1979 Toyota Cressida
The 1979 Toyota Cressida | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, interior
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, interior | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, dashboard
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, dashboard | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, in front of Toyota Plaza in St. John's
The 1979 Toyota Cressida, in front of Toyota Plaza in St. John's | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Do you know the way to Deer Lake?
Soon enough it was time to get down to business, and we set off in a brand-new (pre-production!) 2025 Toyota Crown Signia with Gander on our minds, and beyond that Deer Lake.

See: 2025 Toyota Crown Signia First Drive: A Wagon!? Yes

Officially the new Crown Signia, one of the models marking the return to the Crown name to the North American Toyota fleet, is an SUV/crossover, but we’re just going to call it what it is, which is a wagon. A hybrid-powertrain wagon.

The 2024 Toyota Crown Signia
The 2024 Toyota Crown Signia | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 2024 Toyota Crown Signia, on the road
The 2024 Toyota Crown Signia, on the road | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Land Cruising
Day two started with a sprint from Deer Lake south to Port aux Basques, where the ferry was going to leave on time for Sydney, Nova Scotia, with or without us. Couldn’t be late. This time we were in the new 2024 Land Cruiser, which will never be mistaken for a wagon. But it does provide wonderful visibility with its boxy cabin and a comfortable ride.

See: 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser First Drive: A Great Comeback... But Success Is Not a Foregone Conclusion

See: 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser: Here Is Pricing for Canada

The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, along Newfoundland's west coast
The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, along Newfoundland's west coast | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, in profile
The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, in profile | Photo: D.Boshouwers

One element we watched for on this journey through two Atlantic provinces was the level of electrification around us. Namely, how many EVs were we encountering on the road, and what kind of charging infrastructure was there? The answers? Not many, and not much. Here was a forlorn-looking charging station located at the halfway point between Deer Lake and Port aux Basques. It was very nearly the only such station we saw outside of St. John’s.

A charging station at the defunct Midway Motel, along Newfoundland's west coast
A charging station at the defunct Midway Motel, along Newfoundland's west coast | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Into the mystic
We were greeted on our arrival at Port aux Basques' ferry dock by a huge fogbank, specially ordered by the good folks at Toyota to add some mist-ic magic to the day.

The Land Cruiser gets in line for the ferry at Port aux Basques
The Land Cruiser gets in line for the ferry at Port aux Basques | Photo: D.Boshouwers
Our ferry, the very large Blue Puttees, hulked invisibly in the background behind the tremendous fog
Our ferry, the very large Blue Puttees, hulked invisibly in the background behind the tremendous fog | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Blue Puttees ferry, revealed by the dissipating fog
The Blue Puttees ferry, revealed by the dissipating fog | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Once on board, we discovered the ferry had no WiFi. A bittersweet realization since it meant we would be catching up on rest instead of work!

Day Three: the Cabot Trail awaits
The first assembly plant opened by a Japanese automaker in Canada was at Point Edward in Sydney, on Cape Breton Island. Today it’s an unassuming field, devoid of even a plaque to mark the spot. But it was where the first Toyota Corollas for North America were assembled, starting in 1969. Here is one of the cars we drove on our segment, a 2024 Corolla Hybrid, paying its respects.

See: 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid Review: Win Win

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid, at the site of the former Toyota plant at Port Edward, Sydney, Nova Scotia
The 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid, at the site of the former Toyota plant at Port Edward, Sydney, Nova Scotia | Photo: D.Boshouwers
In Sydney, on Cape Breton Island
In Sydney, on Cape Breton Island | Photo: D.Boshouwers
Sydney's enormous fiddle
Sydney's enormous fiddle | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Respects paid, we had a special treat awaiting us as set off from Sydney: a Toyota GR86 for the first part of the famed Cabot Trail drive, which would take us up to picturesque Neils Harbour.

The Toyota GR86, about to take on the Cabot Trail
The Toyota GR86, about to take on the Cabot Trail | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Toyota GR86, about to take on the Cabot Trail
The Toyota GR86, about to take on the Cabot Trail | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Toyota Land Cruiser, about to take on the Cabot Trail
The Toyota Land Cruiser, about to take on the Cabot Trail | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid ahead of us on the Cabot Trail
The Toyota Corolla Hybrid ahead of us on the Cabot Trail | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Toyota's little GR86 comes with a manual gearbox, of course, which makes it particularly well-suited to delivering fun on the winding roads and amid the beautiful vistas of the Cabot Trail. The time flew by faster than the weather changes we hit, which ranged from sun to fog to strong downpours and back within the space of two hours.

The Toyota GR86, in Neils Harbour
The Toyota GR86, in Neils Harbour |
The Toyota GR86, front
The Toyota GR86, front |
The 2024 Toyota GR86, in Neils Harbour
The 2024 Toyota GR86, in Neils Harbour |

The money shot
Back at the wheel of the comfy, high-riding Land Cruiser, we made our way across the Cabot Trail until we came to what is certainly its most photographed spot. We couldn't not stop.

The rightly famous Cabot Trail
The rightly famous Cabot Trail | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Toyota Land Cruiser, admiring the view
The Toyota Land Cruiser, admiring the view | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Along the way across the "top" of the Trail we had noted the sudden explosion of French-language town and street names, this as we entered the Acadian part of Cape Breton.

Merci from Cape Breton Island
Merci from Cape Breton Island | Photo: D.Boshouwers

Too soon, it was time to make a beeline in the even more comfy Crown Signia to Halifax, the endpoint of our segment of Toyota's 60th Anniversary cross-Canada road trip.

Auto123 is on board for current legs of the cross-Canada journey as well, as the convoy makes its way across massive Ontario headed for Winnipeg. Stay tuned for more reports!

Our first evening in St. John's
Our first evening in St. John's | Photo: D.Boshouwers
Heading out of St. John's harbour
Heading out of St. John's harbour | Photo: D.Boshouwers
The Land Cruiser, stickered
The Land Cruiser, stickered | Photo: D.Boshouwers
Derek Boshouwers
Derek Boshouwers
Automotive expert
  • Over 5 years' experience as an automotive journalist
  • More than 50 test drives in the past year
  • Participation in over 30 new vehicle launches in the presence of the brand's technical specialists