Words: Richard Edwards
Published 9 August 2026
A non-hybrid, diesel-only version of Chery’s Stockman ute is under consideration, and it could address an issue the brand is yet to publicly own up to: the plug-in hybrid’s payload shortfall.
Australian publication Drive reports that registration data for the first Stockman prototype on Australian roads reveals a gross vehicle mass of 3500kg against a kerb weight of 2800kg. That leaves a payload of just 700kg, well short of the 1000kg target Chery set when it revealed the ute in concept form in February.
Prototypes often carry extra equipment, and the showroom version could land closer to 800kg. But hitting the full 1000kg with the battery pack aboard may prove a stretch.
Removing the battery while retaining the 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engine would go a long way towards solving the problem, and Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris confirms the idea is on the table.
“I think in the future we’ll certainly have other variants of the Stockman, obviously with the petrol PHEV,” Harris tells Drive. “We’re looking at the possibility of a diesel ICE, which would be quite far away if we were to go down that path.”
The engineering case stacks up. The diesel Stockman uses a conventional four-wheel drive system with the electric motor integrated into the driveline, meaning the battery can be deleted without redesigning how the ute puts power to the ground. Next year’s petrol PHEV variant is a different story, using front and rear electric motors in a layout similar to the BYD Shark 6, with the engine only able to drive one axle directly.
Outputs for the diesel engine alone are unconfirmed, though its capacity suggests figures in the territory of the Kia Tasman’s 154kW and 441Nm. With electric assistance, the diesel hybrid Stockman claims a combined 350kW and 800Nm.
The wildcard is emissions regulation. Drive notes a diesel-only Stockman would likely not arrive before 2028, by which point Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard will demand utes emit CO2 at levels comparable to a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, a target effectively out of reach without electrification.
New Zealand would present less of a hurdle. The Clean Car Standard’s penalties were cut by almost 80% from January this year, targets have been relaxed twice, and no targets are yet set for 2028 and beyond. A first-principles review of the scheme, with scrapping it entirely among the options on the table, was due to report to Cabinet in June, though no outcome has been announced.
The diesel PHEV Stockman launches in Australia in the fourth quarter of this year. The ute is confirmed for New Zealand, though Chery has indicated to NZ Autocar it will not arrive until the first quarter of 2027.
