Chery appears to be planning a more compact dual-cab ute, based on an upcoming unibody SUV, which would face no direct competition if it were to come to Australia.
South African auto website Cars.co.za has shared design drawings of the new Chery model, which the Chinese brand applied to register with South Africa’s patent authorities in November 2025 alongside its SUV sibling. Registration was granted this month.
The outlet also reports the design has been registered in markets such as New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, though a search of the IP Australia database doesn’t yet reveal the ute or its SUV sibling. However, there are various filings for which images aren’t publicly available.
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The images reveal what appears to be a small-to-medium four-door vehicle with angular fenders, C-pillar-mounted door handles, and a small load bay bookended by buttresses.
In these low-detail line drawings, it almost looks like a typical crossover SUV until you notice the lack of a roof over the rear-end.
The vehicle is described in the South African filing as a “crossover pick-up, functionally merging a fully enclosed passenger cabin with an open or semi-enclosed rear cargo deck”.
Should it come to Australia, the new ute could slot in under the Chery Stockman dual-cab due on sale here later this year, and create a new market niche Down Under.
There’s only been one unibody ute (based on a car-style monocoque chassis architecture rather than a ladder-frame platform) sold in this market since the demise of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore utes: the KGM Musso EV.
Smaller unibody utes, however, are extremely common in Latin America, where brands such as Chevrolet, Fiat, Renault and Volkswagen all offer one. Another Chinese automaker, BYD, is also expected to launch a unibody ute to slot in under the Shark 6.
Unibody utes were once quite common in South Africa as well, but have all died out there now.
Chery is expanding into new niches, having revealed the unibody Tiggo V large SUV at this year’s Beijing motor show, which can be converted from an SUV to a ute of sorts. This model has yet to be locked in for Australia.
Cars.co.za reports Chery had confirmed back in 2021 that it would launch a half-tonne ute in the South African market, potentially wearing the Tiggo Pup nameplate.
Given the Chery lineup is full of front/all-wheel drive models based on the T1X platform and powered by turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engines, it appears likely this new model will follow a similar formula. That could also mean the production ute will offer hybrid or plug-in hybrid options, as with most of the Chery lineup.
Chery Australia has previously confirmed it could bring additional utes here beyond the Stockman.
“What’s confirmed at the moment is having a proper, ladder-frame chassis, off-road platform-style pickup,” Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris told CarExpert in July 2025. This was subsequently revealed as the Stockman.
“Globally, there are lots of different options for pickups. It’s not just a one-tonne ladder-frame chassis.”
Chery chief engineer David Xianqiang Lu added that the brand was exploring different types of utes, while also taking notes from the performance of similar models from other manufacturers.
“We do have pickup from body-on-frame design and then also unibody design, and we’re exploring global markets for that,” he said.
“USA market used to be very good for body-on-frame, but recently Ford has the Maverick, which is a unibody vehicle that sold very well. So maybe we will see. We also have body-on-frame vehicles that we will introduce to this market as well.”