The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce described Mr Smith as a true trailblazer and a strong supporter of Victorian dealer issues.

Mr Smith was an executive committee member of the then AADA Victoria, Victorian Automobile Dealers Association (VADA) and on the VACC Board of Management for many years.

Mr Smith was a second generation dealer, following in his father Reg’s footsteps and then taking over the business when his father was killed at age 57 in a motorsport accident in 1960.

Warren Smith stepped in to run the nine businesses of his father, expanding the company to the point in the late 1960s that it was one of the largest independent used-car dealerships in Victoria.

Peter Brock and Warren Smith

The business moved from repairing cars and valve radios by Reg in the 1930s to trading in used cars in the late 1940s.

It took on new cars with the formation in 1969 of Garry and Warren Smith Group (Garry was Warren’s brother) when it bought the long-established business of Williams & Sons in Atherton Road, Oakleigh.

Warren Smith had previously bought land covering 3.4 hectares in Dandenong Road, Oakleigh, which became the site in late 1969 for a brand-new Holden dealership.

It opened Mulgrave Mazda in 1972 (and remains on its original site at 715 Springvale Rd, Mulgrave); Oakleigh Honda in 1974 (first at Oakleigh and then transferred to Springvale); Oakleigh Suzuki in 1975; Oakleigh HSV in 1988 (ceased in November 2020 but remains an authorised service and parts dealer); Chadstone Kia and Mitsubishi (bought by GWS in 2017 and transferred to the Oakleigh site in 2020); and Springvale Honda and Kia.

The Springvale Honda dealership was a purpose-built Honda dealership at 867 Princes Highway, Springvale that opened in January 2020. GWS will remain a Honda dealer.

The Kia dealership was also purpose-built and started at 875 Princes Highway, Springvale in January 2020.

Mr Smith had been unwell for the past five years and had gradually reduced his workload as executive chairman over the past decade.

GWS has been operated for more than a decade by Warren’s sons Dale and Leigh.

It now sells more than 7500 vehicles a year to make it one of Victoria’s biggest dealerships.

Its brands are Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, Kia and Mitsubishi with service and parts for Holden and HSV, with dealerships and service centres in the Melbourne suburbs of Oakleigh, Mulgrave and Springvale and substantial shareholdings in country dealerships at Shepparton and Bairnsdale.

The company has been a Mazda, Honda and Suzuki dealer in Melbourne for nearly 50 years making it one of the older and larger multi-vehicle operations.

It also has major shareholdings in Goulburn Motor Group which includes Darryl Twitt Audi, Ford, VW and JLR businesses in Shepparton and in The Big Garage at Bairnsdale which sells Nissan, Subaru, VW and Suzuki.

By Neil Dowling