President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday inaugurated the long-awaited large production facility that will build Turkey’s first domestic automobile brand, Togg.
The Turkish people witnessed another milestone on Saturday that coincided with the opening ceremony in the northwestern province of Bursa. 99th anniversary of the Republic of TurkeyIt marked the start of official mass production of the car, which is expected to hit the roads at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The event was also seen Togg’s first all-electric SUV rolls off the assembly line Having President Erdogan in the driver’s seat brings Turkey and President Erdogan closer to realizing their dream of making the country’s first national automobile.
As part of his vision to make Turkey an economic powerhouse, the Turkish leader has been pushing industrialists to make a domestic automobile for a long time.
Erdogan said, “We are witnessing a 60-year-old dream come true… Wherever you go, you will see Turkish brands… As a prestigious Turkish brand, Togg will also decorate the roads of many countries of the world.” aforementioned.
“Everyone is wondering when Togg will grace the roads… We will see Togg on our roads at the end of the 1st quarter of 2023,” he said. “Our citizens will be able to pre-order Togg models towards the end of February… (at what point) prices will also be announced.”
The vehicle is produced by a consortium of five Turkish companies called Turkey Automobile Enterprise Group or Togg, in cooperation with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).
Construction of Togg’s engineering, design and manufacturing facilities began in mid-2020, nearly two years after President Erdogan announced the consortium led by former technology giant Bosch manager Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş.
The factory was built on an area of 1.2 million square meters (12.92 million square meters) in the Gemlik district of Bursa.
Bursa is called the automotive capital of the country as it hosts the production facilities of many foreign brands, including Turkish-French joint venture Oyak Renault and Turkey’s Koç Holding and Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler’s joint venture Tofaş.
In December 2019, Erdogan showcased Togg’s SUV and sedan prototypes, both all-electric and C-segment models.
The SUV is expected to hit the market in the first quarter of 2023 and will be the first electric sports utility vehicle produced by a non-traditional manufacturer in continental Europe.
Togg will produce five different models – SUV, sedan, C-hatchback, B-SUV and B-MPV – by 2030. The mass production of the SUV will be followed by the sedan.
The brand aims to produce 1 million vehicles in five different segments by 2030.
The car was designed by Italian design firm Pininfarina, which created models for Ferrari and California-based electric car manufacturer Karma.
Togg chose advanced lithium-ion battery technology company Farasis as business partner for the battery. The domestic car is expected to reach 80% charge in under 30 minutes with fast charging. It will have a range of 300 kilometers to 500 kilometers (186 miles to 310 miles).
Track tests showed that it would take about 7.6 seconds for the car to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h with 200 horsepower, and under 4.8 seconds with a 400 horsepower engine.
The Togg consortium is Turkey’s second attempt at producing Turkish-made automobiles. In the 1960s, a group of Turkish engineers made prototypes of a car called the Revolution or the English Revolution. The project was later abandoned.
