Chery names its first bakkie Grootman
Chery has named its first bakkie for South Africa Grootman, a name chosen by South Africans. The model is planned to make its local debut in the first quarter of 2027.
- Product News
- 2 October 2026
The Kariega plant of Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) kicked off March by reaching yet another milestone: the 100 000th unit of the current Polo for the local market.
This special milestone vehicle rolled off the production line on 1 March during the night shift.
The Kariega plant has been building the current Polo since January 2018 and began production of the facelifted Polo in August 2021. Of the 100 000 vehicles, 80 644 were pre-facelift Polos and the remaining 19 356 were facelift Polo models.

VWSA celebrated several Polo milestones in 2022, reaching its one-millionth Polo built for export in May 2022, the 500 000th Polo (including the facelift and the model launched in 2018) in July 2022, and the 100 000th facelift Polo produced in August 2022. More recently, the company celebrated two million units of its popular Polos and Polo Vivos in November 2022.
VWSA currently builds the Polo Vivo for the local market, and the Polo for all right-hand-drive markets and certain left-hand-drive markets. The Kariega plant is also the sole manufacturer worldwide of the Polo GTI.
“Though the majority of our Polos are built for export markets, we are incredibly proud of how popular this vehicle is among South African customers,” said Ulrich Schwabe, Production Director at VWSA. “This includes our employees, who build these high-quality vehicles with pride and whose dedication and love for our vehicles have made this milestone possible.”
South Africa’s new vehicle market recorded aggregate domestic sales of 61 645 units in September 2026, an increase of 12.7% compared with the 54 706 units sold during September 2025.
SA Auto Week 2026 is scheduled to take place in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, from 13 to 16 October, with the event marking five years of SA Auto Week.
South Africa’s domestic new-vehicle market strengthened in September, recording 61 645 sales, its highest monthly total of 2026. Sales increased by 3 747 vehicles, or 6.5%, from August’s originally reported total and were 12.7% higher than in September 2025.