National car Turkey in production form

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been of the opinion for years that Turkey should have more to offer in car land. Although brands such as Renault, Toyota, Ford, Honda and Hyundai have factories there, Turkey must get its own car brand. In 2017 Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG) was founded, a company consisting of six Turkish companies that wants to build cars themselves under the TOGG brand. At the end of 2019, TOGG presented a set of prototypes of its intended firstborn, a medium-sized SUV designed by design house Pininfarina, of which AutoWeek can now show you the production version.

TOGG ‘C SUV’

TOGG refers to its intended firstborn to date with the working title C-SUV and that is also the name with which we have to do it for the time being. The C-SUV was presented to the world with two different fronts. There was a version with a strikingly closed grille and one with a more opulent-looking grille with a whole series of vertical bars and more chrome around. The patent plates that AutoWeek can show you exclusively show the production versions of the C-SUV, each with one of the fronts. Just like the rest of TOGG’s cars, the C-SUV is fully electric, a closed grille fits in perfectly with that design-technically.

What distinguishes the cars on these patent plates from the prototypes shown at the end of 2019? A few cases. For example, the variant of the TOGG C-SUV with the slatted grille on these patent drawings has conventional side mirrors instead of the perched cameras of the concept versions. The version with the closed grille does have those digital copies. In addition, the SUVs are on more modest light metal and the relatively expensive handles recessed into the doors have been replaced by conventional ones in both versions. In the front bumper of both variants on the patent plates we observe fog lamps. The adjustments at the rear seem to be limited to the arrival of a more quietly designed rear bumper with a differently shaped silver skid plate with reflectors next to it.

The C-SUV is scheduled for 2022 and must be built in Gemlil, Turkey. In the production facility located there, the car will not be left alone for long. TOGG wants to produce not only an electric sedan, but also an electric hatchback, a compact crossover and a medium-sized electric MPV.