The Turkish electric car manufacturer Togg has inaugurated its first production facility in Gemlik. The first model is scheduled to roll out in Turkey in March 2023. For the coming year, Togg plans to produce 17,000 to 18,000 electric cars. Within five years, the annual capacity is to grow to 175,000 vehicles.
With Togg, Turkey wants to build its own electric car brand. While the manufacturer’s vehicles will be designed and assembled locally, the main components such as batteries and motors will come from abroad. According to Deutsche Welle, initially, 51% of the materials used to build the vehicles will come from Turkey. In the next few years, this share is to be increased to 65 %.
Against this background, among other things, a battery factory is to be built on a plot of land adjacent to the vehicle plant. According to the Turkish government, the groundbreaking ceremony is imminent. “We have agreed with a leading company in the world to produce Togg’s lithium-ion batteries in our country. We will soon break ground for the battery factory, which will be built in the 609,000-square-meter plot right next to the Togg facility,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced.
As reported, the partner is Farasis Energy. Together, Togg and Farasis have already founded the battery joint venture Siro and started initial production tests in August. As was already known, this will initially only involve the assembly of supplied battery modules and packs, which will then be installed in the Togg vehicles in Gemlik. Only in a further step is cell production planned at Siro.
Erdogan himself gave the keynote speech at the factory inauguration: “When the Togg Gemlik Facility reaches its full capacity, 175,000 vehicles will be produced here annually. Around 4,300 people will be employed directly and 20,000 people indirectly. One million vehicles will be produced here until 2030, which will contribute over $50 billion to our national income and $7 billion to reducing our surplus deficit.”
While the president pointed out that Turkish citizens will be able to order the first Togg model towards the end of February and the price will be announced by then, Deutsche Welle reports that the Turks’ debut electric SUV will cost 900,000 Turkish liras (around 50,000 euros) and will be followed by a more affordable model in a year or two. In a picture published on Twitter, Togg announces a sedan and a coupé as further planned models.
According to earlier information, the electric SUV will be launched on the market in several variants. In terms of design, Togg distinguishes between a version for western and oriental tastes. In terms of technology, there will be battery options for 300 or 500 kilometres of range, and a 147 kW rear engine and a 294 kW all-wheel drive with two engines are also planned.
Independently of this, Togg also wants to get involved in infrastructure development. Under its own brand Trugo, 1,000 fast-charging stations are to be built in Turkey at a good 600 locations in all 81 provinces of the country. However, no timetable for the roll-out is mentioned.
Togg was founded in 2019 as a joint project of six large Turkish groups – with the aim of establishing its own Turkish carmaker. So far, Turkey has mainly produced vehicles and components for international brands.
dw.com, hurriyetdailynews.com
Keyword: Togg opens factory in Gemlik