The South African bakkie market is highly competitive, with deeply loyal buyers. That’ s why Chery is taking a different path to market.
Local name for Chery bakkie
The South African bakkie market is highly competitive, with deeply loyal buyers. That’ s why Chery is taking a different path to market.
How much brand equity is in a successful South African bakkie nameplate? Skilled marketing analysis would say that in a market like South Africa, where bakkies are the best-selling vehicle category, brand equity by name value would be very high.
Establishing and sustaining bakkie brand equity isn ' t easy. The legacy and trust in a bakkie model name aren ' t built in a single product lifecycle. Toyota ' s Hilux is South Africa ' s most successful model range, but it ' s been a marketing and product-positioning project for decades.
Chinese automakers don ' t follow traditional auto industry timelines or expectations. Chery is now effectively South Africa ' s third-largest automotive brand, and its ambition seems boundless. That confidence is why it ' s letting South Africans choose the name for its forthcoming double cab bakkie through a social media engagement campaign. " South Africans are inventive, expressive and rarely short of an opinion, particularly when it comes to their cars," says Verene Petersen, National Marketing Manager at Chery South Africa. " We could have introduced this bakkie with a name decided elsewhere, but we wanted to give South Africans a meaningful role in its story. The winning entry will go beyond the competition itself. It will become part of Chery ' s journey in this country."
Overwhelming response
In total, Chery received more than 20 000 naming submissions for its bakkie. From those submissions, Chery chose finalists: Grootman, Nduna, Chief Orca, and Brahman. In Australia, the global bakkie market most similar to South Africa, Chery ' s marketing team also engaged with the bakkie community for naming direction and decided on Stockman. In South Africa the winning name chosen is Grootman.
The decision to open the naming of a product as important as a double-cab bakkie shows Chery ' s confidence in its business in South Africa. Grootman bakkie, will challenge the Hilux and Ranger.
Chery has spared no expense to ensure its new bakkie, available only as a double cab, has category-leading specifications. With 247 mm of ground clearance, a 3,500 kg tow rating, and a firstin-class 2.5-litre turbodiesel-hybrid powertrain, it offers power and torque numbers well beyond what Toyota and Ford offer in the market.
With a powertrain rated at 350 kW and 800 Nm, the Chery double cab could outperform Toyota ' s and Ford ' s most powerful bakkies by a significant degree.
WORDS IN ACTION 22 SEPTEMBER 2026