In December 2019 and in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first Turkish car TOGG was presented as the first Turkish electric vehicle fully made in the country.
The car, which has invested more than three billion dollars in its design to be a major player and competitor to the electric car giant Tesla, is set to form a new chapter in the Turkish industry.
Old strategies
In general, the automobile industry in Turkey has been based on the production of products of foreign companies since its inception and has not previously turned towards the domestic auto industry.
The automobile industry started in Turkey almost simultaneously with South Korea, but it has taken a different path.As South Korea developed its own brands while Turkey became a base for foreign automakers.
However, Turkey wants to change its auto industry strategy. Where the emergence of electric cars is a fertile environment in which the major car companies are stripping the market due to the lack of competition, and Turkey is maneuvering in this field to develop its local brand TOGG.
The Turkish car TOGG comes to compete with Tesla
The new local-made Turkish car TOGG is a fully electric crossover car. According to its designers, this car has two types of engines, one with 200 hp and the other 400 hp.
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h is 7.6 and 4.8 seconds with the two different engines. The car travels in two ranges, 300 km and 500 km, during one charging period, and it is characterized by fast charging that enables you to charge 80% of the car batteries in just half an hour.
If the price of the Turkish car TOGG is lower than the prices of Tesla products, it may become a competitor to the company’s cars, especially the Tesla Model X. With this strategy, Turkey decided to develop its national car after 60 years.
The mass production of these cars was scheduled to begin in 2020, as the foundation stone has already been laid and the establishment of the factory dedicated to the production of the Turkish car TOGG has begun earlier in July 2020 in the Turkish city of Bursa, in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey aspires to produce five different models of electric cars under the new brand by 2030. While the current production plan for the first model is 175 thousand units annually.
Erdogan said: “Our new car is the embodiment of Turkey’s 60-year-old dream to build cars, and we will no longer be a mere market for foreign companies’ technologies, but Turkey will become a producer and exporter of cars.”
History of the automotive industry in Turkey
The Turkish auto industry began in 1960, as Turkey tried to develop its own spare parts industry to become a base for foreign companies. In doing so, the country became the main hub for Renault and Fiat products outside the European Union.
“In the past, Turkey did not have a strategy in the automotive industry,” Erkan Tazer, former secretary of the Turkish Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Instead, foreign companies define the Turkish auto industry’s strategy. That is why we did not intend to create a local brand for us.”
But now Turkish industry managers, unlike the previous conservative managers, want to change the story and want to make Turkey famous in the auto industry, especially through the electric car industry.
With the high quality of cars produced in this country, coupled with an active spare parts industry, Turkey has the support needed to produce products under its own brand.
But its lack of knowledge in a very competitive market made things difficult for Turkey, and for this reason Turkey is now working to use the lack of electric cars in the global market to enter this area.
It is noteworthy that the CEO of the Turkish car manufacturer TOGG was one of the key managers of Bosch Germany.
The company’s first compact off-road vehicle will also be produced in 2022.
