The presentation ceremony of the first 100% Turkish electric car took place in the Gebze district of Kocaeli province in the northwest of the country. The vehicle, unveiled in the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will come in five models and 175,000 units in one year. The all-electric car will have a range of up to 500 km and a locally produced lithium-ion battery that can be recharged to 80% in less than 30 minutes.

A total of 22 billion TL ($3.7 billion) will be invested in the Turkish electric car project over 15 years, said Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu, head of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Stock Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). The production facilities will be completed in 2021, and the first car will be produced in 2022, along with the installation of charging stations around the country. The government has also promised to buy 30,000 vehicles produced by 2035.

Meanwhile, production plants for Turkey’s first car – which will also be electric – will be inaugurated in the west of the country by presidential decree. According to the decision published in the Official Gazette on 27 December with the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the plant will be set up in the province of Bursa with the help of the government on a project basis.  Around 4000 people will be employed, including 300 qualified personnel.

Of the five industrial partners of the new brand, two already have experience in car manufacturing: the Anadolu Group has been manufacturing vans, pickups, and buses for Isuzu for decades. The Turkish Qatari company BMC is one of Turkey’s leading manufacturers of commercial vehicles. Turkcell, the country’s largest telephone operator, the Zorlu holding company and the Kok Group provide financial support.

Turkey has several vehicle manufacturing plants and therefore has some know-how in the field. But until now these have been foreign brands. Renault, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, and Hyundai have their vehicles assembled there for the European market.

TOGG cars, which are the first Turkish electric cars, will not be reserved for the domestic market. President Erdogan stressed on Friday that TOGG intends to become a global brand that would first go on the offensive in Europe.

For further details, you can visit the official website of TOGG cars.