Obituary: Sir Colin Giltrap

Sir Colin Giltrap, motorsport enthusiast, founder of the Giltrap Group and philanthropist, has passed away.

He died last night, April 17, after battling ill health since suffering a fall in London in 2023.

Giltrap, who was knighted for his contribution to motorsport and charitable giving, spent his lifetime in the automotive industry.

He passed on the business, which has its head office in Auckland’s Grey Lynn, to his sons Richard and Michael in recent years although he remained active in it.

Long, proud history

The Giltrap Group started in the 1960s “when a young, car-mad Colin Giltrap co-founded Hamilton luxury car dealership, Monaco Motors”, says the company.

In the early 1970s, he bought Matamata Motors, and then a Mazda and Audi dealership at 444 Great North Road, Auckland.

Giltrap then expanded along the strip that is Great North Road, buying many neighbouring properties on both sides.

It was in 1977 that he founded European Motor Distributors, which purchased the rights for Volkswagen and, later, Audi. In the 1980s, Giltrap bought Schofields in Newmarket.

Coutts Cars then became a standalone franchise called Coutts BMW. It was at 150 Great North Road with Giltrap North Shore also hosting BMW. 

Audi, Volkswagen, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Porsche moved to 101 Great North Road under a new dealership called Giltrap Prestige. It also retailed General Motors products and, later on, Nissan.

Giltrap also bought half of Archibald & Shorter in Greenlane, giving it a stake in that Jaguar dealership.

By 1989, Giltrap had purchased a Toyota franchise at 101 Great North Road and acquired the rights to distribute Mercedes-Benz in this country. He built a new showroom at 100 Great North Road and the Giltrap Motor Group was renamed Giltrap Prestige.

By the 1990s, that business had become New Zealand’s only Aston Martin franchise and it bought the rights to distribute Skoda on our shores.

Purpose-built showrooms were then developed for Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche at 100 Great North Road and, by the early 2000s, Giltrap had become the country’s only Lamborghini dealership.

‘Quite a good honour’

In 2012, Giltrap was made a Knight Companion of the Order of New Zealand for his services to motorsport and his philanthropy. He commented at the time that he was unsure what to make of his new title.

He said: “I think it’s quite a good honour. I didn’t realise when I first received it in the new year quite how much it meant. But I’m starting to slowly get used to it.

“I’m still a bit trepiditious about it because I’m still Colin to everybody. A few of the staff don’t know whether to call me Sir Colin or Colin but, I mean, I want to get the message around that I haven’t changed. I’m just Colin. Always have been, always will be.”

Giltrap was a patron of the McLaren Trust. He supported and mentored numerous young racing drivers. He also contributed to many sporting events and charities, including the Starship Foundation and Canterbury’s earthquake appeal.

Being a patron wasn’t always smooth sailing. “Probably the worst initiative was paying huge money to get Tiger Woods here for the NZ Open [at Paraparaumu],” Giltrap told the NZ Herald in 2012. “It rained all the time and he didn’t perform at all.”

Of his philanthropy, at the time he described it as “very rewarding – usually it’s great”. 

On the final stretch

In 2017, the company moved into new $40 million headquarters, which won a national award from the NZ Institute of Architects.

Michael Giltrap, group joint managing director with his brother Richard, said Warren and Mahoney’s design of the building, which is called 119 GNR, was way beyond what they had anticipated.

Earlier last decade, the group became 100 per cent owner of Archibald & Shorter (Auckland) as well as Roverland (North Shore). In 2018, SEAT NZ opened its first dealership in Newmarket and, by 2021, Polestar and Lotus became part of Giltrap’s.

Late last year, Sir Colin suffered a fall in London. He sustained broken ribs and need to be hospitalised.

At the time, group spokesman Shaun Summerfield said the family thanked those who wished them well.

Today, he said: “Giltrap Group founder Sir Colin Giltrap passed peacefully at home with family last night, aged 84. He had been battling ill health since suffering a fall in London last year.”

Giltrap is survived by his wife Lady Jennifer, their adult children and their families.