Chery has cut down its list of potential public-picked names for its upcoming ute to nine, with the choice now open to the public.
In March, Chery invited the Australian public to submit a name for the ute, which has thus far only been shown off in pre-production guise under the working title KP31.
After being open for two weeks, more than 20,000 names and rationales for them were put forward, and now the nine finalists have been revealed.
These include:
- Bushwalker
- Ironbark
- Longreach
- Mate
- Orca
- Outrider
- Ridgeback
- Stockman
- Terra
Of the nine names, we’ve already seen two of them in Australia before, both times on utes.
Stockman was previously used on a cab-chassis ute variant of the Suzuki Sierra, powered by a diminutive 1.0-litre engine but featuring a dual-range four-wheel drive system.
We’ve also previously seen the Longreach nameplate on the Ford Falcon, featuring in the XH generation on the non-XR versions of the ute and panel van.
While Mate seems like a near-obvious choice as a symbol of being dependable, it’s a term which can also be used in a derogatory sense.
“We asked Australians to help name this ute, and they delivered in a big way,” said Chery Australia chief operating officer, Lucas Harris.
“The shortlisted names show just how passionate Aussies are about utes, but also how they’re thinking about the next generation of vehicles as new energy technology evolves.”
Voting for the naming competition is open until 11:59pm AEST on Tuesday 19 May 2026. You can cast your vote on Chery’s website here.
While the winner of the competition doesn’t get a new set of steak knives, they will receive the first Chery ute to arrive in Australia, adorned with their chosen name.
Revealed in February, the KP31 features the first diesel plug-in hybrid system used in a ute globally.
Its 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine is paired with at least one electric motor and a high-voltage battery pack, with reports from China suggesting it can drive on EV power only for about 170km.
Chery is yet to reveal full technical specifications, however it has already confirmed it’ll feature a 3500kg braked towing capacity and a 1000kg payload.
According to Chery, the concept KP31 measures 5610mm long, 1920mm wide and 1925mm in height. That’s slightly larger than the production version, which Chery has confirmed will be 5450mm long, which is still longer than either the Ranger or Toyota HiLux.
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