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
More than 120 Volkswagen employees and their loved ones volunteered to create a conducive training and learning environment for early childhood development educators. They were joined by Edutak staff and early learning development practitioners.
Established in 1989, Edutak is an Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP) SETA-accredited non-profit organisation that provides NQF (National Qualifications Framework) level four and five training to early childhood development practitioners.
The organisation focuses on disadvantaged communities, especially in rural areas in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West. Since inception, Edutak has trained close to 3 500 practitioners and provided workshops in occupational health and safety, labour law, nutrition, classroom lay-out, lesson planning, firefighting and dealing with differently abled children. Edutak is also one of the beneficiaries of a Volkswagen Polo Vivo that the organisation uses to reach other ECD centres to provide training.

“Early childhood development plays a pivotal role in shaping the foundation of a child's future. By empowering early childhood development educators with knowledge and skills necessary to support early literacy and language skills in the classrooms, we believe that our young children will reap the benefits,” said Nonkqubela Maliza, VWSA Corporate Affairs and Government Director.
The VWSA employee volunteerism programme called, Show of Hands, provides an opportunity for employees and their loved ones to physically participate in the company’s Corporate Social Investment initiatives. Employees revamped the external play areas and renovated the training and resource centre. They also installed a new toy library and unpacked donated learning resources like games, books and toys.

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.