His background as a mechanic served him well and three years later he transferred to Coleman's Suzuki wholesale company - then known as South Pacific Suzuki - as motorcycle technical manager.
In 1984 Suzuki Motor Corporation bought the Coleman group of companies and formed Suzuki NZ and Mr Grice assumed the role as technical manager for all Suzuki products in NZ.
Four years later he was named marketing manager for motorcycles and marine products and within two years was marketing general manager for all Suzuki products. The final two promotions saw him named general manager of Suzuki NZ in 1995 and finally chief executive in 2001, when the company left the managing of it in the hands of Kiwis.
He said having a technical background held him in good stead when he took on marketing but he still found it "quite taxing".
"I had no marketing background, although I had a few people skills which were quite handy. But the first meeting I attended I thought, 'I haven't got a clue what they're talking about yet I'm in charge here'," he said.
But he picked it up quickly, relying on common sense more than anything else and realising it was about understanding the product and what people wanted.
Head office tended to leave the NZ operation alone; it set targets but how the Kiwis achieved them was up to Mr Grice and his team.
"Suzuki recognises that its distributors are its best people to run the campaigns because we know our market a lot better than head office. We did well, and that was the important thing, and now the brand is in a very strong position in NZ," he said.
He said the biggest challenge was making a statement in what is essentially a small car market.
"Everyone's fighting tooth and nail to get their share. The big difference for us is that over 65 per cent of our sales are private customers, whereas it's the reverse for most of the other brands who fall back on fleet or business sales.
"The private market is cautious with its money but we've had product that appeals to them, especially cars like the Swift, which has been a standout for us."
And he said they made a point of staying loyal to those private buyers, making sure volume purchasers didn't get any preferential treatment simply because they were buying in bulk.
"It's been our philosophy for 15 or 16 years now."
Mr Grice said the company had no intention of relocating its operation or the 39 staff to any other centre. In fact, head office recommitted to Wanganui as late as last year.
"We did do a feasibility study and looked at Auckland, but at the end of the day there was no gain but a lot of loss. Of our staff at the time, maybe 50 per cent would have moved but the other half had no intention of shifting," he said.
"The key to our business is that quality of our staff. We've got people who've been with us for a long time, the city's a good place to live and it's affordable. And we can attract good staff," he said.
He had been head-hunted at times by Auckland-based car companies, and he said some of the offers were "very appealing" but the pluses in Wanganui always swayed his decision to stay.
Retirement for Mr Grice means looking after his 18ha cattle farm at Fordell and he'll do more hunting, fishing and photography.
"Just really getting out in the hills," he says.
