Caterpillar is celebrating a significant milestone, its first 100 years, we thought we’d take stock of our own history and how Toromont Cat has grown significantly since Toromont Industries bought its first Caterpillar dealership in 1993. Since that initial acquisition of Crothers Limited, we have grown into one of the biggest Caterpillar dealers in the world and we proudly represent Cat products and services from Manitoba to Newfoundland & Labrador, now employing thousands of people and supporting thousands of customers.

What’s in a name?

Over the years, a lot of people have asked where the name Toromont comes from.

While the answer might seem simple – we combined ‘Toronto’ and ‘Montreal’ – we’re proud to be a uniquely Canadian company that incorporates the best of our diverse people, territory and country has to offer.

Growing By Leaps and Bounds

While Toromont got its start in the 60s as Toromont Holdings Ltd., things really shifted in the early 90s, when Toromont became an official Caterpillar dealer after acquiring Crothers. This marked the beginning of Toromont Cat, a new entity in the Toromont Industries portfolio.

Things moved quickly from there and in 1996 as we acquired Newfoundland Tractor. In the same year we acquired Battlefield Rentals, a division that still exists today and offers customers a premier source for equipment rentals. Powell Cat (serving Manitoba and Nunavut) joined the family in 2001. In 2017, we acquired Hewitt Equipment and Atlantic Tractors and doubled the size of the business overnight. The acquisition of Hewitt resulted in a contiguous territory from Central Canada to the East Coast.

Hewitt Cat was the official Cat dealer for Quebec, with the Hewitt-owned Atlantic Tractor-Atlantic Cat serving regions in Atlantic Canada. These two acquisitions help us serve Canadians in bigger ways.

Today

Today, Toromont Cat is one of the biggest Caterpillar dealerships in the world, with over 4,000 employees, in 7 provinces and territories, more than 55 places of work.

Helping to Build Canada’s Future

Toromont Cat continues to be one of Canada’s most-respected companies, and we’re honoured to have supported the building of a significant amount of the country’s infrastructure. From the national railway to hospitals, mines, and more, Toromont Cat provides products and services that have helped build Canada into what it is today (you can read more in our two-part series on the history of Cat in Canada).

So what does the future hold for Toromont Cat? A lot.

Last year saw the opening of a new remanufacturing facility in Bradford, Ontario. We recently opened a new retail space, Toromont Cat Compact Store, that offers everything compact all under one roof and we have expanded our fleet to include machines of all sizes.

A new Toromont Cat branch is coming this year to Brooklin, Ontario, and we already announced that we are moving our Concord facility and building a new head office and branch in Vaughan with a targeted opening date in 2027. We are excited to bring a new distribution center in Halton Hills online in 2026 to support our branch operations and our growing customer base.

And while we’re over the moon to be celebrating Caterpillar’s 100^th anniversary this year and a successful year for Toromont Cat, our eyes are always looking to the future – to building a legacy of superior customer service for decades to come.