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
A much lesser-known race in the auto industry, driven by the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and the Jobs Act of 2021, is currently underway in the US, and the Japanese chemical and electronics company Asahi Kasei might have a substantial lead start.
Although the act is known for having led to the funding of a wave of electric-vehicle charging stations, it also called for a final rule to be issued in 2024, requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have the ability to passively detect when drivers are under the influence of alcohol and to prevent them from driving.
All good and well, except that such technology does not yet exist as a commercialised market-friendly original-equipment vehicle component.
While others have been frantically trying to make inroads into such technology, Asahi Kasei has a Swedish subsidiary which has been working on alcohol and gas detection sensors for other applications for 25 years.
The Japanese company is now working with a range of role players, from automobile manufacturers to Tier 1 suppliers, to make the tech commercially feasible.
The company’s North American director of mobility told a US auto industry publication that the legislation took everyone, including his own company, by surprise. He said everyone expected it to happen in Europe first but owing to activist groups in the US such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the tech will now more than likely be implemented in the US first.
It is exactly this faulty assumption regarding Europe, that led to Asahi Kasei acquiring the Swedish tech company, Senseair, five years ago.
Senseair is hoping to develop a sensor that can be seamlessly integrated into vehicles without the need for new cabin hardware. Drivers would exhale toward a small sensor that could be embedded in the steering column or side door trim and await a quick pass/fail reading on the alcohol content of their breath.
It will use an algorithm that detects the amount of ethanol on a driver's breath compared with naturally occurring carbon dioxide.
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.
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.
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Cars are the ultimate symbol of freedom, independence and individualism. They offer the freedom to ‘go anywhere,’ whenever it suits and with whom one chooses.
Sarah Redshaw
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.