With new vehicle registrations running at record levels over the past four years, motor vehicle dealer Wayne Leach has every reason to be thankful for buying into Winger Motors almost 30 years ago.
Established in Hamilton in 1932, Winger has grown into one of New Zealand’s largest dealer networks, with 250 staff selling 13 brands throughout the North Island including the popular Subaru and Suzuki marques.
Winger went upmarket in 2016 when it also became the North Island distributor for Maserati. Describing the franchise acquisition as “an important new stage in the history of Winger Motors," Leach said it presents a range of exciting new challenges “but ones for which we believe we are fully prepared, with more than eight decades of building Winger Motors on the foundations of superb customer service, excellent facilities and a unique personal touch for all our customers.”
As well as the motor vehicle franchises, Leach owns a string of valuable showrooms and car yards that are collectively worth more than $55 million. The most valuable property is the Isuzu yard in Auckland’s Greenlane, valued at $17.5m, and the Maserati showroom in Newmarket, which is worth $8.8m and has $16m pledged for an upgrade.
Originally from Hamilton, Leach has also demonstrated a healthy appetite for residential property development. Over the past few years he has teamed up with high-profile city realtor David Lugton to develop more than 250 residential sites worth about $60m in the suburb of Flagstaff. Previous Hamilton investments have included the Te Rapa Countdown site, which he sold in 2013 for $11m.
His investment portfolio includes a vacant residential site in Arrowtown and three properties in the seaside town of Whangamata where Leach also owns the popular Whangamata Motor Camp, which has a valuation of almost $6m.
Grand mansions have also figured prominently in the investment mix. Leach owned Hamilton’s historic Greenslade House in the 1990s, and he made a small fortune in 2015 when he sold the former Remuera home of the late Sir Doug Myers for $14m.
Nowadays, he resides in a more modest $9m Remuera property, with limestone floors and in-ground pool set among established tropical gardens that real estate agents say exudes a resort-like feel.
Like many motor vehicle dealerships, Winger has been a generous sponsor. A firm believer in ‘what goes around comes around,’ the business is committed to helping the communities that support its dealerships with a focus on helping families, schools and local sport.