Q&A: When Japanese vehicles were assembled in Cape Breton

CBC

23-03-2025

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The first Japanese cars in North America rolled off the assembly line in Cape Breton, beginning in 1968 with an Isuzu Bellett at the Toyota plant in Point Edward.
A year later, the first Toyota — a Corolla — followed in its tire tracks.
Cape Breton's connection to Toyota all started with the Canadian stereo TV manufacturer Clairtone and Frank Sobey.
On Thursday, CBC Radio's Information Morning Cape Breton interviewed Dale Edward Johnson, an award-winning automotive journalist. Johnson recently gave a presentation on the Cape Breton Toyota plant through the Canadian Automotive Museum in Oshawa, Ont.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was it that caught your attention about the Toyota plant in Cape Breton?
Well, it just seemed to have such an unlikely beginning. You mentioned Clairtone and they were this incredibly successful Canadian company that made really high-end stereos starting in the 1950s. And they were both really high quality stereos, but they were also a big hit because of their very futuristic styling. Their sales went from something like $60,000 in 1958 to $11,000,000 by the mid-1960s. And they were looking to diversify.
The two people behind this were Peter Munk and David Gilmour. And in 1964, they bought the rights to market and then produce Japanese cars in Canada. Two brands: Isuzu and Toyota. Most of the imports in those days were from Europe. This was something all new — cars coming from Japan. But they got going in 1964. They set up this company that could import cars. They started importing these vehicles, but of course the next step was to actually produce them in Canada, and that's where Sydney comes in.
Frank Sobey, he had been mayor of Stellarton for years and of course behind the Sobeys grocery store chain. And at that time he was head of Industrial Estates, which was the Nova Scotia Crown corporation that was trying to help diversify the economy as it was transitioning from the mining industry. In 1963, he had helped Volvo set up shop in Dartmouth, bringing parts over from Sweden and assembled the cars in Canada.
So this was sort of the model that this new company wanted to use. So that's how this plant got started in Sydney — through Clairtone and through the Nova Scotia government.
What can you tell us about the operation here?
The initial goal was to have 1,000 cars a year rolling off the assembly line and they were going to have 50 employees to start. And of course they were hoping to grow this. So some pretty rosy projections in 1965.
But unfortunately, just after this time in 1966, Clairtone started running into financial problems. In fact, again — with the help of Frank Sobey — Clairtone relocated from Toronto to Stellarton in order to cut their costs. So a big new factory is built in Stellarton. The building is still standing, but Clairtone was going through these financial troubles.
In the book by Nina Monk about her father's company, she says [her] father's short-lived ambition to become an automotive magnate hastened Clairtone's downfall. There simply wasn't enough money or managerial talent to go around.
And between mid-1966 and mid-1967, Clairtone and this new car company both fell apart. So they were both struggling. Clairtone just spread itself too thin and that's why both companies were struggling.
So getting the plant up and running was then delayed from 1965 — when plans were first announced — [and it] didn't get going until December of 1967. But it did indeed get going.
In 1967, the first assembly line for Japanese cars in North America opened in Sydney at Point Edward, a former military facility. They started turning out something called the Isuzu Bellett sedans, and by January 1968, a total of 80 of these cars had been assembled at the plant. During the calendar year of 1968, a total of 584 Isuzu Belletts were made so this was small but it was a production line. They were cranking out cars and it meant a lot of jobs for people in the area too.
So they ended up producing something like 9,000 vehicles between 1967 to 1975, when they eventually shut down. Do you know if the Toyota company recalls this plant at all?
Yes, they do indeed. I read about this plant years ago. It was very small but at the time, I found a clipping [that said] it was pumping $6,000 a week into Cape Breton's economy. But yes, Toyota is very aware of this. Last summer, Toyota marked its 60th anniversary of selling cars in Canada. They organized a tour that went from St. John's to Victoria and they invited journalists to take part in sections of this cross-country trip to see some of the facilities and dealerships and so on. I was invited to drive the section from Halifax to Montreal, but I was always curious about this plant in Sydney, so I actually arrived a few days early so I could go to Cape Breton and take a look at where this facility was. That was a stop for the first group that went from St. John's to Halifax was to stop by the site of this original plant in Sydney, so they're well aware of it for sure.
What does Toyota say about the site?
I spoke to Stephen Beatty, who was an executive with Toyota. He has since retired. And I mean, it's just a vacant lot now where the plant was. But he said that it was very worthwhile. He said, and I've got a couple of quotes here which I think explain it well. He said you had to enter new markets and you had to understand what they were about. You had to build new vehicles that would meet the needs of the local markets. And Point Edward and Canadian Motor Industries were sort of the proving grounds for that over time. So it was to become more aware of the Canadian marketplace, if you will.
But he also said unfortunately that plant was literally just too far away. You had to bring knockdown kits from Japan all the way across to Nova Scotia and from there distribute them back across Canada. But he also said it was a good plan of how to work with the Auto Pact and other regulatory requirements of the day.
But ultimately it was just not a financially viable manufacturing operation.