Turkey’s first fully homemade car is an electric crossover SUV

Turkey has long been dependent on foreign automakers for producing and manufacturing cars. But this is about to change as TOGG, a consortium of Turkish companies, unveiled its first entirely domestically produced car. The consortium called Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) was established in mid-2018 is a composition of five industrial groups: Anadolu Group, BMC, Kok Group, mobile phone operator Turkcell and Zorlu Holding, the parent of TV maker Vestel. This vehicle launched by TOGG will be an electric crossover SUV as the country’s first fully homegrown car. The aim is to eventually produce up to 175,000 units of the electric vehicle annually with an expected cost of 22 billion lira ($3.7 billion) over 13 years. The charging infrastructure for electric cars would also be ready nationwide by 2022. This project has been President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s long term goal to increase the country’s economic growth. During the ceremony, it was revealed that Turkey aimed not only to sell the car domestically but also wanted it to become a global brand, starting with Europe. It would be the President’s dream come true when the vehicle would operate all around the world. Some specifications of the vehicle were announced during the ceremony. The base option is a single 200 HP rear-axle motor (62MPH in 7.6 seconds) with a 186-mile range. A second option is available of a 400 HP dual-motor setup (0-62MPH in 4.8 seconds) with a 300 miles range. The car can be charged to 80 percent within 30 minutes, which is sufficiently fast (roughly 150kW). TOGG boasted of the “Slow Traffic Pilot” that will offer Level 2 semi-autonomous driving, which can be upgraded to Level 3 autonomy.

• The interior controls will be all-digital as well as the passenger display.
• A holographic assistant that will use eye tracking to provide information ensuring driver’s eyes on the road.
• A real-time internet connection will be available, linking both the SUV to the grid and delivering over-the-air updates.

The price of the vehicle has not been disclosed, but TOGG expects the SUV to arrive in 2022 alongside the necessary charging infrastructure. There’s also a concept sedan version to be released soon including five models of the car in its variant.