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
Ctrack, with years of experience in vehicle tracking and fleet management, is now taking its product offering to new heights by launching its new data management solution.
Ctrack Crystal is a fully customisable platform that combines all their existing functionality as well as a host of new features into a new, cloud-based offering that is easy to use.
It relies on the same hardware technology, built locally for African conditions, that customers know and trust, with the data now presented in an easier-to-use format that allows for swifter decision making and the efficient managing of fleets, no matter their size.
“In this day and age, the usefulness of data is determined by how easy it is to make decisions based on that data. Ctrack Crystal takes the guesswork out of fleet and asset management by offering cutting-edge tools and functionality in an easy-to-use format," says Hein Jordt, Chief Executive Officer of Ctrack Africa.
Currently, devices read data and transmit these data points via GSM to a data hub locally. Customers can then access this information via a desktop or mobile app such as Ctrack Max, Ctrack Drive or Driver Mobi. This is now changing to a much better all-in-one platform at the palm of your hands.
By integrating with hardware installed in vehicles, data is now transmitted to the cloud and hosted within the Microsoft Azure environment, a much faster and more secure solution.
Storing the data on the cloud allows access from anywhere in the world. When the cloud-based software is updated, it benefits all users simultaneously, ensuring a uniform experience for all users all the time.
For fleet managers and business owners, this means a tracking and tracing solution in real time, with live updates every 15 seconds. It is no longer necessary to wait for data to refresh.
Ctrack Crystal is user customisable and features improved functionality such as a live map with traffic views, the ability to send a message to the driver and the setting up of user-defined locations amongst a myriad of other options, from one location, all designed to save time and costs.
As with many of the functions of Ctrack Crystal, the in-cab camera system can be paired with Artificial Intelligence software. As an example, this clever software sifts through the data gathered by in-cab cameras and only reports on the transgressions defined by the fleet manager. In essence, the software takes over a large portion of the legwork that was previously the responsibility of the end user.
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.