Industry legend honoured

A pioneer of New Zealand’s car industry has been honoured for services to sport and philanthropy.

Fred Lewis, who established the Enterprise Motor Group in 1970, has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours List.

Through the company, he has sponsored numerous community organisations and initiatives – locally and nationally – for more than 50 years.

Lewis, of Gisborne, was surprised when he was notified of the honour by post that his wife had nominated him. 

He says: “I’ve been around a long time and know a lot of people. I like giving back to the city.”

Lewis, pictured, is an animal lover, and has helped people pay to have their pets de-sexed through the Fred Lewis Enterprise Foundation.

“We work with the SPCA to help people who can’t afford to have their dogs and cats de-sexed,” he says. “I think we’ve done around 1,000 dogs so far.”

A private man who doesn’t like a lot of fuss, Lewis was a founding member of Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club and has been patron since 2005, sponsoring several major community fishing tournaments. 

He helped facilitate the club’s move into the city. It is now one of the biggest, most successful fishing clubs nationally. 

Lewis has sponsored satellite tags to track migration of marlin in the Pacific to help with research. He has done a lot of deep-sea fishing in that ocean over the years and enjoys taking friends with him.

In recent years, he has funded research by the Matai Medical Research Institute into methamphetamine and brain-injury recoveries.

He donated money towards Gisborne Marist Rugby Club merging with Gisborne Old Boys in the 1980s, and has sponsored Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby and Poverty Bay Rugby.

He was a key funder of the Enterprise pool, an all-seasons facility available to the community, and the Enterprise swim team. He sponsors the Enterprise Community Centre, which hosts major combined school and other competitive fixtures.

Lewis has sponsored three Tairawhiti golf courses and major tournaments over 20 years, recently funding the installation of a golf simulator.

Turning back the clock

It was in September last year that Enterprise Nissan, Gisborne’s oldest locally owned new-vehicle franchise, celebrated 40 years of selling vehicles.

Fred Lewis had always been involved in the automotive industry before setting up one of New Zealand’s most successful used-car outlets.

At the age of 22, he was a panel beater at Ormond Motors, which was owned by John Nicholls. Then Lewis and his friend Gary Bates set up a business in Disraeli Street with capital of just $500 after selling their tool kits as security.

Before long, larger premises were needed so they relocated to an industrial sub-division. As the business continued to expand, they bought out Johnstone Motors in Gladstone Road.

After buying up other dealerships outside Gisborne, the company was split in two, with Lewis taking the motor dealership side and Bates, panel beating. 

Lewis took on the Nissan franchise in 1983 and hasn’t looked back since. 

“The Nissan brand fits well into the Enterprise business, producing safe and efficient vehicles at exceptional value for money,” says Lewis. “At Enterprise, customer service is second to none whether it be sales, finance, service or parts and all at great value for money.”

Enterprise Nissan’s new-car sales manager Steven Shields came on-board about 25 years ago and says the company has boasted many skilled technicians over that time, “with one of them being in the top two of New Zealand and the top 10 of Australia-NZ”, reported the Gisborne Herald in 2023. “We’ve also received many sales awards for outstanding sales and service satisfaction. It’s all down to good service. 

“We are a community-minded company, with Enterprise over the years sponsoring many things like the sports centre on Aberdeen Road, the Enterprise Aquatic Centre and the Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club Bay Bonanza.”

Lewis also saw the opportunities that importing used vehicles from Japan could bring. 

At one stage, he had 12 yards throughout the country after setting up the company in 1970. By 1986 Lewis was importing 1500 cars a month and using some innovative methods to get them into the country.

Growth of used imports

In 2014, Autofile published a book called From The Rising Sun To The Long White Cloud. It was a comprehensive history of used-car importing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the IMVIA. What follows is a passage from chapter four – the import industry grows.

Fred Lewis from Enterprise Cars arranged to ship his first vehicles directly to Gisborne where the stevedores were co-operative, especially with the added incentive of a few beers at the end of the job. 

When there was little competition in the imported used-car business, North Island dealers enthusiastically travelled to Poverty Bay to restock their yards. Lewis stored hundreds of cars anywhere he could put them, including cool stores and large warehouses. 

Dealers desperately wanted the best vehicles and followed cars from the boat to the storage facilities to stake their claims. Once the deals were done, there were big parties and the dealers headed home after they had enjoyed some Gisborne hospitality.

Fred Lewis: “Everyone wanted first pick and you tried to be fair, which was quite hard to do with car dealers. We started at 9am and any car they liked, they put their name on it. Sometimes you might have eight names on a car, which suited us because we could be firmer on the price.” 

The wholesale operation quickly outgrew Gisborne and Lewis shipped cars to Napier, which was more accessible. He eventually had eight agents in Japan and regularly imported about 800 cars per month.

As business boomed, Lewis developed Enterprise Cars in Auckland and when competition from other wholesalers increased, he started selling cars at auction. He eventually required stock for about 12 yards in Auckland and Gisborne, and a wholesale operation that covered the North Island and as far south as Christchurch.

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