Turkish automaker Togg wants to further expand its range of electric models. The SUV already featured in the C-segment, which the company says will launch in the first quarter of 2023, will be followed by four more vehicles. The study of a sedan has just been seen at CES.
All models will be built on the same platform, according to a statement from Togg. A sedan and a hatchback in the C segment are specifically planned as well as a B-SUV and a van. The company sees itself as a “global technology brand” and is 100% state-owned. Its “intellectual and industrial property” would be at the heart of Turkey’s mobility ecosystem.
In August, Togg had fleshed out its plans to start mass production of the country’s first electric car. According to company boss Gürcan Karakas, the first model – an SUV with a range of up to 500 kilometers – is due to enter series production in the fourth quarter of 2022 and be offered to dealers in two design variants – one for “Western” and one for “more oriental tastes”. As mentioned above, the market launch is scheduled for early 2023.
Togg’s electric SUV will initially be sold exclusively in Turkey. According to the August information, sales in Germany and Europe are not expected until a year and a half after the market launch. In the summer of 2020, it was still said that sales in Germany would start in parallel with the planned market launch in Turkey.
Regardless, the Turkish company has now given a preview of the electric sedan at CES with the Transition Concept Smart Device. During the SUV’s presentation in August, Togg explained that the cars were designed as smart devices from the start. In Las Vegas, however, the focus was less on smart capabilities and more on design features created by Italian specialist Pininfarina. Among other things, Togg highlights a muscular rear design and a shoulder line that extends from the headlights to the rear as future ‘style DNA’. The CES spotlight study also featured cameras instead of mirrors and doors that open in opposite directions without a B-pillar. Technical data for the concept is not available.
CEO Gürcan Karakaş wants to produce one million vehicles of the five mentioned models by 2030. In this context, a factory with a capacity of 175,000 vehicles per year is being built in Gemlik, Turkey. Also in Gemlik, Togg is currently building a battery plant which will be operated by the joint venture with Farasis Energy. The creation of the 50/50 joint venture called Siro was sealed by both parties last year. While Siro’s head office is in Bilisim Vadisi, in northwestern Turkey, serial production of the batteries will take place in the aforementioned Gemlik.
In this context, Karakas already underlined in November the objective of his company to become a “global supplier of mobility of use cases”. “We will deliver user-centric, intelligent, empathetic, connected, autonomous, shared and electrified mobility devices and build a mobility ecosystem around them. Battery technology is an essential part of what we want to achieve. And our aim with Siro is not only to produce batteries for electric vehicles in Turkey, but also to expand battery research and development capabilities in our country. In this way, the company also wants to establish itself as a supplier of battery and energy storage systems in the non-automotive sector.
On the occasion of CES, the CEO of the company now specifies: “The transformation that we have experienced in the mobile telephony industry in response to the rapidly changing expectations of users, we are seeing today in automobile industry. In the near future, it will no longer necessarily be large companies that will succeed, but agile, creative, collaborative and user-oriented ones. The race in this area has just started and we are there. And we have a big advantage because we were born into this new world.
Source: information by e-mail, insideevs.com
