Local car TOGG makes its world debut in Las Vegas

LES VEGAS

Locally-developed car named after Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) has been presented to the world for the first time at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, the United States.

TOGG CEO Gürcan Karakaş presented the electric car’s sedan version to the participants of the prominent fair on Jan. 5.
“We are very excited,” said Karakaş, who could not hold back his tears, after the launch.

“When we came here three years ago, I said we should come here, we did. We came to say that we are a player in the game. We are involved in the game and we are progressing rapidly.”
The showcased model, which was designed by TOGG’s head of design Murat Günak in cooperation with Italian firm Pininfarina, was named as “the transition consept smart device.”

“We have seen that cars are turning into smart devices and a new living space is emerging here. We have been designing this living space from the beginning,” said Karakaş.

TOGG teams are working with 28 startup companies from all around the world, he added.
“The country’s top telecom operator is involved in this project. Regional commercial producers are also involved. So, our partners could meet most of our needs for our ecosystem,” he also said.
TOGG was established in 2018 under the leadership of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) by companies of Anadolu Group, BMC, Root Group, Turkcell and the Zorlu Group.
Karakaş defined TOGG as “a technology company operating in the field of mobility that was established in a geography in which the East meets the West, and mind meeets emotions.”
The sedan model will be capable of reaching 100 kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds, according to Karakaş’s remarks.
Last month, TOGG announced that the installation of its assembly line has started in its factory in the northwestern province of Bursa’s Gemlik district.

Trial production will start at the end of July 2022 and the first mass-produced vehicle will be ready at the end of 2022. Some 250 robots will operate at the facility.
“After the homologation tests are completed in the first quarter of 2023, our first vehicle in the C segment, an SUV, will be on the market,” Karakaş said on Dec. 27, 2021.

TOGG and Chinese battery giant Farasis are also planning to establish a $5 billion battery factory in the same district.
SiRo, a joint venture of TOGG and Farasis, will produce 15 gigawatt/hour battery cells and modules.
Farasis will supply TOGG the key part of Turkey’s $2.8 billion endeavor to produce its own automobile brand. Electric cars produced by TOGG are expected to hit the roads in 2022, two years before being exported to European markets.