Sydney City Toyota CITY EXTRA
Our First Decade of Service
WE’RE CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF OWNERSHIP OF SYDNEY CITY TOYOTA.
The business has been a Sydney institution for a lot longer. It began in 1932 as York Motors and in the mid-1960s it became NSW’s pioneer Toyota dealership.
Toyota has been our backbone ever since.
Ten years ago, we were a company store – owned by Toyota.
But Toyota, one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers recognised that wasn’t good for the franchise or for its customers.
The BEST dealerships are owned and run by individuals who love what they do, who have their customers’ best interests at heart and who see the future as a place where their kids can work and thrive.
Toyota put ownership of Sydney City to tender. Five interested parties responded, and each asked me to head their bid. Why me? I guess I’d nailed my colours to the mast. I’d worked inside the car companies, and I’d let it be known I saw my future owning a dealership I could build into something special. Also, I had a family plan, a desire to create a business for my kids.
I chose to partner with Andy SciFleet, a Queensland Toyota dealer whose dad and mum Gordon and Patricia wrote the blueprint on building a family-focussed business.
We won the tender, and I became dealer principal.
Since then, Andy and his associate Jarod Marshall have used Sydney City as the launch pad to undertake a series of similar
acquisitions, always with partnership in mind and family succession the goal.
“Sydney City is the largest of our joint ventures, and John Roca is the right person to be in business with, “Andy said as part of our very quiet and personal 10-year celebration.
I don’t know about the latter, but certainly we’ve been able to build the business based on personal contact and respect. We have one of the highest repeat-business ratios in the industry and that comes from service as much as it does from product.
Andy is committed to succession.
“We have eight of our next generation working in our business,“ he said. “We’ve even written a family constitution to guide our progress into the future.”
In Sydney, my son Jacob has been with me for nine years. Proudly, he’s just passed Toyota Motor Corporation’s rigorous Future Leaders’ Program, and he’s ready to be promoted to management.
I love what I do and don’t want to hand over just yet. But in another six years Jacob will be 35 and that’s about right.
This column is very personal. I want to use it to thank everyone: my colleagues, team, and most importantly my customers for your support. Sydney City Toyota has been the fulfilment of my dream. It’s not over yet.
John Roca Dealer Principal
Building on the Best
Here’s a bold forecast - an SUV will be the best-selling motor vehicle in Australia in 2025, supplanting the one tonne utilities which have held the top spot.
Customer demand for our RAV4 has made it number one in sales for January and February, clearly outdistancing the Utes which are battling out the other podium positions. It’s far too early to make a definitive claim, but on the showroom floor the level of interest in our RAV4 in its many variants is creating a really exciting vibe.
Demand for hybrid power, which is the mainstay of RAV4, is leading the charge (pardon the pun).
Customers are turning to the economy and operating advantages of petrol-electric hybrid in great numbers.
Just three months ago a customer drove a hybrid RAV4 out of a Toyota showroom to clock up 500,000 Toyota hybrids delivered in Australia since the first, a Prius, was introduced in 2001. Demand is booming.
In 2024 hybrid-electric vehicles accounted for just under half all-Toyota deliveries – and that was 60 percent more than in 2023.
Hybrid is becoming the new norm. It’s delivering amazing fuel economy without any downside.
Its powerful, reliable and economical. And RAV4 is an attractive package. You can’t ask more.
Toyota has done the right thing by sticking to its dedication to hybrid; what we call HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle).
While it’s also at the leading edge of BEV (battery electric vehicle) and is immersed in FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle powered by hydrogen) it recognises that HEV is a preferred option for many customers. We’re getting the best of their commitment.
RAV4 has been Australia’s top selling hybrid vehicle for the past two years and this year, if we can keep up supply, it’s a strong candidate to take the outright Number One position.
GR(eat) Performance Range
It’s going to be a GReat year for lovers of highperformance cars.
Toyota has expanded the use of its Gazoo Racing (GR) brand across our model range, and it’s defined a core group of performance vehicles as the nucleus of our performance offering.
We’ve been overwhelmed with enquiry, and orders, for upgrade versions of our GR86 sports car, GR Yaris hot hatch, GR Corolla and for the very limited track edition of our GR Supra due mid-year.
We’ve always loved the GR86. It’s as pure as a sports car can get – sensational power to weight ratio, rear wheel drive and hugely responsive.
Engineers have remapped the throttle and ignition functions to provide even greater driver enjoyment.
The automatic transmission version has been reworked to allow sports driving downshifts 1600rpm higher than before. That’s a huge boost for performance drivers.
Most importantly there’s a limited edition 86 –just 86 of them are coming.
They’re painted Forest Shadow Green matched with striking bronze 18-inch alloy wheels. It’s worth trying to get one for the colour alone. Especially when its recommended retail price is under $50,000 not including on road costs.
GR Yaris delivers 21kW and 30Nm more than its predecessor and it’s available with its sensational six-speed manual gearbox and an eight-speed automatic complete with track-ready launch control.
GR Yaris was originally built to enable Toyota to homologate its world rally championship winning car. Now the wheel has turned full circle. The dash on the new GR Yaris looks for all the world like it’s been lifted from the rally car.
GR Corolla has benefitted from the same engine upgrades as the Yaris, providing more practicality with four doors.
The big news is that our spectacular GR Supra, donor model for our entry next year in Supercar racing, will be available mid this year as a limited-edition Track Edition.
Chassis and suspension improvements will make this Supra a collector’s delight.
We expect to see as many placed in private collections as we will on the racetrack.
Meet Wilbury
Born from a charity auction for the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Wilbury the bear has become a symbol of generosity.
Our dealer principal John Roca bid $1000 for the oversized stuffed bear, and we’ve now transformed it into a travelling ambassador for noble causes.
Wilbury will be embarking on weekly adventures, adopted by kind hearted individuals who donate $500 or more to the Sydney Children’s Hospital in exchange.
We’ll track his journey online and share it on social media, inspiring communities to join his mission.
By December 2025, Wilbury will return to Sydney City Toyota and will present the funds raised to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.
And why Wilbury?
‘Traveling Wilbury’ is a whimsical name coined in 1988 by Beatle George Harrison for a US-UK pop group comprising some of the world’s best artists so they could record together in relative anonymity. We remain mad keen fans.
So, we’ve christened ‘Wilbury’ in their honour. Wilbury celebrates the power of creativity, community and kindness.
To discover how you can be involved please contact marketing@sydneycitytoyota.com.au. And to donate to the cause please click here
Celebrating International Women’s Day
At Sydney City Toyota we’re proud of our commitment to a diversity policy which celebrates the rich mixture of cultures which make up our team.
International Women’s Day gives us a formal opportunity to recognise our achievements as a small microcosm of Sydney society.
This year our team shared cupcakes – not a big issue, but symbolic of our care for each other. How we’ve changed.
Our HR administrator Ashley Marcelo, with us while our HR manager Olivia Irwin is enjoying maternity leave, provided some pretty startling numbers.
Between 1992 and 2012 we employed just three women. In the decade 2013 to 2023 we employed 34 women and in the last year we’ve employed a further 24.
“I think it’s a pretty impressive jump,“ Ashley said. ”To go from three in the first ten years to ten times that in the next ten, and now almost that number again in just a year and a bit.” Ashley should know. She’s one of our high achievers – on secondment to us while she’s completing her Master of Business Analytics at UTS.
Australia has been one of the change leaders. Our country first adopted International Women’s Day in 1928 and marked it with a rally in Sydney’s Domain.
(In 1911 Australia issued a commemorative 20 cent coin to celebrate the centenary of the very first Women’s Day held anywhere in the world. Go on eBay today and you’ll find that same coin in mint condition on sale for $80).
Myth Busting with Con
We’ve always admired the ingenuity and curiosity showcased on the Discovery Channel’s MythBusters, where a team of adventurous scientists tackles widely held beliefs to see if they truly hold up.
From investigating the existence of ghosts to assessing the effects of an aircraft’s jet stream. They’ve even tested whether a person of average strength can tear a telephone book in half—back when telephone books were a thing!
At Sydney City Toyota, we encounter our own share of myths every day related to the car service process. To address these, we’ve appointed our General Manager of Service, Con Hatzivasiliou, as our resident “myth buster.” While we can’t officially borrow the iconic name from the TV show, Con is dedicated to unravelling the misconceptions that surround car servicing.
Trust us to bring clarity to your car care experience. To watch Con’s myth busting video, please click here.
Mark Warren - part of our generational change
When he was somewhat younger, Mark Warren’s cherished on-air career opportunities at Channel 9 took a downturn.
Put simply, he sounded too much like his father. His dad, Ray, (Rabbits to a national footy loving audience) is an Australian broadcasting icon.
“At the time the network didn’t want another person in his mould,” Mark laments. “More problematic, the opposition also didn’t want someone who sounded like Ray Warren either.
“I was extremely young and perhaps had my card played a bit too early.”
Instead, Mark went into media planning (Warren Media) and devoted his considerable personality, and Rabbits-like voice, to community work. He’s hosted hundreds of charity auctions, raising countless funds for charities. He’s been an Australia Day ambassador for the past ten years conveying his family’s bond to the bush.
Mark introduced Sydney City Toyota to the Mark Hughes Foundation and its Beanies for Brain Cancer appeal has become one of our primary annual causes.
“I was fortunate to be introduced to Jacob Roca, John’s son, and together we started a boxing podcast. Jacob introduced me to his dad,” Mark said.
It was the perfect generational upshift.
“John Roca became both a mentor and a dear friend, a person I look up to and Jacob became my young councillor, an old soul in a young body,” Mark quips.
JR sees it another way. “Sydney City Toyota was one of the first to use social media as part of its streamlined communications program to the benefit of our customers,” he said.
Conversely John was able to help Mark understand how to extract the best from his motoring budget.
“He put me in a Toyota RAV4 Cruiser hybrid and substantially reduced both my fuel bills and my monthly car lease,” Mark said. “Additionally, the RAV’s solid build quality elevates my driving experience.”
Sydney City Toyota has helped Mark fit up his RAV4 with safety belts for his beloved 18-month-old Rottweiler, Laila. She’s a constant companion, whether on a trip to the beach or hitting the open roads supporting various charity and community events.
(Mark is a Sydney City Toyota and Lexus Ambassador Concierge. His media planning services create, plan, produce and deliver media strategies and solutions. And as an added benefit he’s a very well credentialed MC for our dealerships’ various events).
The son of the broadcasting legend met us through the son of our dealer principal.
A GR(eat) weekend drive
So, you’ve bought your Toyota GR and you’re looking for a GReat drive to celebrate its superior performance and handling.
Naturally, you’ll want to take it the Citadel of Australian motorsport, Mt. Panorama.
The 6.3km circuit, home to the Bathurst 1000 and much more, is a scenic road for most of the year and is therefore accessible for a respectable 60kmh speed limited drive. That may seem slow compared to the Supercars or the Toyota GR86s that race there, but you’ll be so busy being amazed by the track you’ll never notice.
Most of the corner signs are in place and when you stop at Brocky’s Skyline for a selfie you’ll be standing on one of the most prime pieces of track not just in Australia, but in the world.
These days there’s a made skywalk around the top of the mountain so take your running shoes to set a PB.
Mt. Panorama is motorsport mecca.
It’s the home of the Australian Motorsport Museum, located at Murray’s Corner right opposite the permanent pits. The Museum is home to a constantly changing collection of more than 100 of Australia’s most significant racing cars and motorcycles – many Bathurst winners, and for Toyota
enthusiasts a tribute to the 1979 Peter Williamson Celica, the first car ever to carry a RaceCam.
Bathurst is a short 161km from the centre of the Sydney CBD. You can get there the quick way, using the Rozelle Interchange from the Anzac Bridge which halves the time to the base of the Blue Mountains.
Or you can go the scenic route over the Bells Line of Road with its glorious swoops through bushland that hasn’t changed all that much since Archibald Bell carved it out in 1823.
Bathurst has a myriad of hotels, motels and good restaurants. You can do it easily up and back in a day or stay overnight.
If you’re looking to make a weekend of it, contemplate the old gold mining ghost towns of Sofala and Hill End as a journey back in time. Or make a detour to view the amazing Three Sisters rock formations at Katoomba and ride on the scenic railway which at 52 degree gradient claims to be the steepest in the world.
Mt Panorama hosts more than the 1000 in October.
Each Easter the Bathurst Six Hour showcases the best and fastest production cars and in November, Challenge Bathurst gives owners of performance cars, including Toyota GRs, the opportunity to drive the track at speed. Special conditions apply, but it’s worth checking out.
