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canadian industry Online - NOVEMBER 2014
T
hi s year , Toyota
Canada
celebrates an important mile-
stone: its 50th anniversary. In 1964
Toyota granted a distributorship agree-
ment to Canadian Motor Industries,
Ltd. (CMI), which later became Toyota
Canada Inc.—and the rest, as they say,
is history.
The company opened business of-
fices that year in Ontario, Quebec and
British Columbia. Now 50 years later
Canadians rely on this automotive
giant for safety, reliability, and stylish
affordability. Toyota is a leader in Ca-
nadian manufacturing and sets the bar
for innovation.
Over 4.6 million Canadians have
become Toyota owners since 1964, and
the company has created thousands
of Canadian jobs in sales, finance and
manufacturing and in its Canadian
plants. Toyota has innovated automo-
tive development introducing technol-
ogies that improve fuel-efficiency and
sustainability. This year, Toyota sold its
100,000
hybrid.
CIO had the opportunity to speak
with President of Toyota Canada Seiji
Ichii to discuss the anniversary, sus-
tainability and the future.
CIO:
How has the Canadian mar-
ket evolved and supported the growth
of Toyota?
Seiji Ichii:
We have been very grate-
ful that we have had the success we
have had in Canada. We started with
a very small number of vehicles sold
in Canada, and today we are selling
roughly 200,000 units per year. We are
a company that understands the Cana-
dian market and have developed our
products accordingly.
CIO:
How has Toyota edged itself
over the competition?
SI
:
Toyota fundamentally under-
stands that high quality is appreciated
by Canadians. By high quality I mean
durability and consideration of the
Canadian environment: this is critical,
and this drives our customers to us.
It’s why Toyota came to Canada.
“
Toyota funda-
mentally un-
derstands that
high quality is
appreciated by
Canadians: that
is the bottom
line.”
