It is said a camel is a horse designed by a committee and the fact South Africans have chosen to name the upcoming Chery double cab ‘Grootman’ seems to give that sentiment some credence.
Chery asked, and South Africa voted!
The name comes from Afrikaans and means ‘big man’. In everyday use it refers to someone who has earned respect through experience and reliability, whether at a family gathering or in a business meeting. Chery says that meaning suits the role a bakkie often plays in South African households, where it can serve as a work vehicle, a family car and a marker of a goal reached.
The Grootman is built on a dedicated hybrid platform that pairs a 2,5-litre turbo-diesel engine with electric power and four-wheel drive. Chery's preliminary figures put combined output at 350 kW and 800 Nm, with an electric-only range of up to 100 km on the NEDC cycle. Braked towing capacity is rated at 3 500 kg.
The load box measures 1 560 mm long, 1 560 mm wide and 500 mm high, and ground clearance is at least 230 mm with a full load. Vehicle-to-Load functionality lets the bakkie run tools and camping equipment, extending the use of its hybrid system beyond driving.
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Chery South Africa general manager Jay Jay Botes said the brand wanted local input on the name. "Grootman is a word people use with respect, often for someone who has worked hard to get where they are and can be counted on," he says. "Having South Africans choose it makes the name particularly meaningful, and we recognise that it comes with expectations we will have to live up to."
The name announcement opens a campaign called ‘The Grootman Has Arrived’. Chery plans to follow it with conversations about the people and qualities South Africans link to the word, which will feed into how the bakkie is introduced locally.
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Final specifications, pricing and the local line-up will be confirmed closer to launch.
One can only hope the people who voted for the name will actually be driving one post launch.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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