56 Years of Giving and Receiving
The flames of the 1956 Hungarian revolution had been snuffed out. Invading Soviet tanks had restored the communist regime. This was no place to be for a young, eager, entrepreneurial Hungarian named John Heffner.
In 1957, Heffner, his wife Mary and their young son John Jr. emigrated to Canada, thanks to the sponsorship and help of family members and friends living in the Kitchener area.
In those early days, three generations crowded together under one roof in a house on Breithaupt Street all working and “We are very strong believers in Toyota. Their policy is customer first, dealer second and company third” John Heffner Jr. supporting each other. Mother and Motherin-law were on the second floor. Mary, John Jr. and by now newly arrived Willy were on the main floor. In the backyard of that house, Heffner built the Breithaupt Street Garage, complete with a gas pump, and enough space left over to sell six used cars. The year was 1960. Success followed soon after, due to Heffner’s tireless work ethic, low overhead, and ideal location close to downtown factories, now long gone.
The support of family, friends, suppliers and the patronage of customers was critical to Heffner’s early success. Heffner’s gratitude was the origina of his support for the community over the next five decades. “Giving back to the community is a cliché that’s used an awful lot”, states John Heffner Jr. “In this particular case it was extremely real, because without the support, it would have been very difficult to get started back then. That just became part of his focus.”
By 1963, Heffner had outgrown Breithaupt Street. He relocated and Heffner Motors was born on a 1.6-acre parcel of land on King Street across from Rockway Gardens. He was to stay there for the next 25 years. Heffner Motors became the sports car centre for the area and an Austin dealer selling MGB, Triumph, Jaguar and Rover. British Leyland was making fewer sedans and more sports cars at the time. John Heffner Jr. described the problem, “Sports cars sold very well in the summer but the rest of the year they were selling almost nothing”.
Through the early 70’s, Heffner dabbled in a few other brands including Mazda, Volvo, Fiat, looking for his niche. At one point he was contacted by Toyota. Heffner thought long and hard about the opportunity. At the time he had a very strong service operation plus he just couldn’t see the Japanese ‘taking over’ here in Canada. He decided to give Toyota a try but Harold Schlueter beat him to it about a week earlier.
Six years later, Heffner received an out of the blue call from Schlueter asking if he would be interested in taking over the Toyota franchise. Heffner couldn’t believe this turn of events. Schlueter explained he was moving over to GM. Within minutes the Toyota rep was in John Heffner’s office. Bank approvals were secured and the deal was done the next day, June 1, 1976.
Little did the Heffner’s know what Toyota would have in store for them. By 1987, they had again outgrown their location. Heffner Motors was on the road, this time to their present site at 3131 King Street. Massive expansion with construction resulted as the Lexus and Scion brands were introduced, with a new used car centre, as well as newbuildings for Toyota and Lexus.
The Heffner family remains loyal and staunch supporters of Toyota. In spite of opportunities, they chose not to branch out into other franchises. “We are very strong believers in Toyota. Their policy is customer first, dealer second and company third”, states John Heffner Jr. “They give us great customer support and great products so we can fulfill every customer’s need.“
As a dealer, Heffner also follows the Toyota philosophy of fulfilling all customer needs and complementing the huge array of automotive products with award winning service, a state of the art body shop, a very busy detailing centre, even a window tinting service. In addition Heffner Motors are strong believers in no pressure sales. “Our job is to give the customer information so they can make the decision…end of story.”’ declares John Heffner Jr.
Through it all Heffner Motors remains steadfast in its support of the community, in particular with organizations and individuals involved in the arts and agencies that assist children and the less fortunate among us.
‘When you have a business and your business is a success in the community, you support the community”, declares John Heffner Jr. “To us it is a no brainer.” •