South Africa’s roads are already brimming with bakkies, and now Chery is adding another. Its first-ever, in fact. The Chinese automaker has assimilated South Africa’s culture without suspicion for years, and a big bakkie can only help. Chery left it up to Saffas to decide this bakkie’s name before democracy labelled it ‘Grootman’.
Big. Man.
It beat out the other shortlisted names: Nduna, Orca, Brahman, Chief, and Bakkie, to name a few. All these names tell us that Chery (probably) heavily censored the real list of suggestions, and only went with the first name that wasn’t utterly silly or crass. Personally, we’d much prefer rocketing around in a ‘Bakkie McBakFace’ or something similar.
And rocket you will. This is a plug-in hybrid, equipped with a 2.5L turbo-diesel engine and an electric motor. Pair that with four-wheel drive, and Chery reckons it’ll output 350kW and 800Nm, making it the country’s most powerful bakkie when it goes on sale. Currently, the BYD Shark 6 Performance offers 350kW and 700Nm.
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It won’t shy away from towing anything less than 3,500kg and has a groot loading bed, measuring 1,560 x 1,560 x 500 mm. Load it all up, and the bakkie still clears an impressive 230mm off the ground. Chery’s punting this as a proper camping companion, with Vehicle-to-Load functionality allowing the bakkie to power external appliances.
Using just the electric motor, the Grootman should be able to travel 85km WLTP (100km NEDC) before conking out and relying on the diesel engine. At least, that’s the idea. We’ll only get to see how it fares under the boots of real people sometime in 2027, when the Grootman hits SA’s roads. Pricing will be revealed closer to launch.
