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Honorary Master
Geely Riddara RD6: Can an electric bakkie convince buyers to shun the Hilux and Ranger?
The Geely Riddara RD6 is a crossover double-cab bakkie powered purely by electricity. It’s a radically different take in this conservative segment, but does that make it better?
Most South Africans don’t strictly need a heavy-duty, body-on-frame double cab with the extreme ruggedness and load capacity of a Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger. Yet, lifestyle buyers continue to purchase them in droves simply because few viable alternatives exist.
Ever since the compact single-cab market vanished in the early 2010s (bar the enduring Nissan NP200), buyers have held out hope for smaller double-cab lifestyle bakkies – vehicles like the Renault Oroch or VW Saveiro. These offer a practical load bed when required, but with unibody car-like dimensions that make them cheaper and much easier to manoeuvre as daily city drivers.
A new kind of double-cab bakkie
Instead of a separate steel ladder chassis, the Riddara RD6 uses a monocoque platform with coil springs at all four wheels.
Historically, monocoque double-cab bakkies have struggled to gain a foothold in South Africa. But Chinese automotive giant Geely – a major player with brands like Volvo under its umbrella – is aiming to change that. Geely believes there is a growing urban lifestyle market ready for a battery electric vehicle (BEV) double-cab designed more like a crossover SUV.
Unibody bakkies like the Honda Ridgeline proved years ago in North America that city buyers would happily accept car-like underpinnings over traditional ladder frames. Can Geely replicate that lifestyle success in South Africa with an electric twist?
The Geely Riddara RD6 is a crossover double-cab bakkie powered purely by electricity. It’s a radically different take in this conservative segment, but does that make it better?
Most South Africans don’t strictly need a heavy-duty, body-on-frame double cab with the extreme ruggedness and load capacity of a Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger. Yet, lifestyle buyers continue to purchase them in droves simply because few viable alternatives exist.
Ever since the compact single-cab market vanished in the early 2010s (bar the enduring Nissan NP200), buyers have held out hope for smaller double-cab lifestyle bakkies – vehicles like the Renault Oroch or VW Saveiro. These offer a practical load bed when required, but with unibody car-like dimensions that make them cheaper and much easier to manoeuvre as daily city drivers.
A new kind of double-cab bakkie
Instead of a separate steel ladder chassis, the Riddara RD6 uses a monocoque platform with coil springs at all four wheels.
Historically, monocoque double-cab bakkies have struggled to gain a foothold in South Africa. But Chinese automotive giant Geely – a major player with brands like Volvo under its umbrella – is aiming to change that. Geely believes there is a growing urban lifestyle market ready for a battery electric vehicle (BEV) double-cab designed more like a crossover SUV.
Unibody bakkies like the Honda Ridgeline proved years ago in North America that city buyers would happily accept car-like underpinnings over traditional ladder frames. Can Geely replicate that lifestyle success in South Africa with an electric twist?
