Ironbark, Bushwalker and Mate … all were on the shortlist, but there was one better.

AND now it has a name - Chery’s upcoming diesel plug-in hybrid utility will be called Stockman.

Arrived at after 20,000-plus submissions were placed in a competition run by the brand in Australia, that name edged out Outrider, Orca, Ironbark, Bushwalker, Longreach, Ridgeback, Terra and Mate.

Chery is delighted. It say the name has genuine Australian heritage that fits right into the region’s fiercely contested ute market.

Just as delighted is the bloke who submitted Stockman in the recent competition.

Steve Kodikara, of Victoria, will take home the keys to the first Stockman when it hits Australian showrooms later this year. Stockman is also signed up for NZ, but not until 2027.

The naming competition generated thousands of entries before being whittled down to a shortlist of eight.

Stockman ultimately secured more than 25 percent of the public vote from more than 12,000 Australians.

In supplied comment today, Lucas Harris, chief operating officer at Chery Australia, said: “Stockman stood out because it captured something uniquely Australian while reflecting the capability, reliability and innovation behind our upcoming ute.

“Steve’s submission brought the name to life through a compelling story, connecting Australia’s heritage with the next generation of ute technology.”

Kodikara’s full entry reads as follows:

“he Australian stockman is more than a rugged icon, he’s a highly skilled worker shaped by an unforgiving history. Not a folk tale. A real person, doing a real job, across terrain that defeated every piece of equipment that wasn’t built specifically to handle it.

They covered Australia’s vast distances not because it was easy, but because the job demanded it, across stock routes stretching thousands of kilometres, through conditions that modern vehicles still struggle to manage. They delivered without fail, because failure wasn’t an option when the land and the livelihoods of entire communities depended on them getting through.

The Chery Stockman was built in exactly that spirit. Diesel power fused with electric drive. Old-world grit fused with next-generation engineering. The heritage of a working nation fused with the technology that will carry it forward. This isn’t a ute named after a legend. It’s a ute that is one. Chery Stockman. Built for the Australia that never stopped working.