History of Thornhill Toyota

The story of Thornhill Toyota began nearly 70 years ago in the mid-1950s.

Thornhill Toyota’s original owner, Jan Wietzes, emigrated from Holland with his young family to build a new life in Canada, settling with his wife, two sons and daughter in Toronto. With a background in auto mechanics, he partnered to open his first repair garage on Fleet Street. Later the business moved to Mount Pleasant and Broadway in Toronto, taking over a Supertest gas station.

As the shop grew Jan began selling used vehicles, developing a reputation for excellent service. When Jan's two sons, Eppie and Bert, joined the company it was time to look for a new location. The company moved to 6080 Yonge Street in Willowdale. Many people told them that it was too far out in the country and they would have difficulties succeeding "way up there." Little did they know at the time what a great location it would turn out to be!

After trying different automotive manufacturers of the time, including Sunbeam, Peugeot and Fiat, they were approached with the opportunity of taking on a franchise new to Canada. In April 1969, they signed on with the little known Toyota franchise.

And so Wietzes Toyota was born, selling the likes of Toyota Coronas, Crowns and Land Cruisers. In the early 1980s the launch of the Toyota Tercel propelled Toyota into the mainstream Canadian marketplace.

Wietzes Toyota enjoyed a great deal of success over the years on Yonge Street with Toyota, building a reputation for honesty and a family way of doing business that customers embraced.

After 40 years as a Toyota dealer and with over 30,000 new Toyotas sold, the dealership moved to a brand new state of art facility at in Thornhill, Ontario.

In March 2020, Wietzes Toyota was bought by WEINS Auto Group (formerly Weins Canada) and renamed Thornhill Toyota. Thornhill Toyota is proud to carry on the traditions of hard work and good service that created Wietzes Toyota’s success for over 50 years.

For a complete history of WEINS Auto Group please visit https://www.weinscanada.com/our-history/