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
In the last five years, Mitsubishi Motors South Africa (MMSA) has put a tremendous amount of effort into ensuring that its customer service, customer retention and positive brand image have been improved from their already high levels.
The result is that MMSA has been recognised as one of the star performers by Mitsubishi Motors Middle East & Africa (MMMEA) with a Platinum award, which is the highest award given to any distributor for the period under review.
This accolade is awarded to countries competing in the parent company’s After-Sales Business Excellence Programme, which is conducted annually and represents service excellence by MMSA and its dealer network relative to other regions.
“Mitsubishi Motors SA aims to offer an extremely high-quality retail and ownership experience that dovetails perfectly with the premium and robust reputation that our range of vehicles are known for,” says Jeffrey Allison, General Manager: Marketing at MMSA.
This latest achievement is a result of exceeding targets in After-Sales, which includes sub-categories such as Customer Satisfaction and Retention Improvement programmes as well as Spare Parts and Accessory performance. The rewards process saw Mitsubishi Motors SA judged on a 1000-point system that is incredibly robust and sets the great apart from the good.
In 2021, in their first year of participation, MMSA achieved Bronze, this was followed by Gold in 2022 and now Platinum. Such rapid improvement in a short period of time is testament to MMSA’s approach to ‘Lifetime Customer Loyalty’ and the extraordinary growth that MMSA has achieved over the last few years.
Consistently high levels of performance in key areas such as Business Revenue, Business Development, Customer Experience and Operational Excellence saw MMSA improve once again and walk away with the Platinum award in 2023.
“Mitsubishi Motors SA’s strategy for continuous improvement includes high levels of Dealer Operating Standards within the dealer network and empowering dealers to continue delivering on high CSI standards.
Our continual improvement in the last three years is testament to the collective effort of our After-sales staff and the dealer network which truly embodies the spirit of continuous improvement,” says Steven Terblans, General Manager, After-sales at MMSA.
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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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.