Togg will also come with a small sedan later
When Togg’s first model was unveiled two years ago, it was said that a sedan would be the second car. However, it became the fastback T10F. This serves as a replacement for a rapidly changing market, says the CEO.
Gürcan Karakas, CEO of Togg, indicates that it is not without reason that the fastback signed by Pininfarina is now available as a sedan. Previously, a C-segment sedan, still an extremely important body variant in the home market of Turkey, would be the second model. “Times are changing quickly, just like the needs of consumers,” Karakas explains to AutoWeek. “And so a slightly higher model, with a sporty line, is now more important. The F10X replaces our plans for a sedan for the time being. A third model will come and that will be a smaller SUV. Count on 2027. Perhaps a small sedan will follow after that. same platform.”
A lot of demand for Togg in his own country
The CEO is overwhelmed by the domestic interest in Togg’s first model, he says. “We calculated just under 20,000 orders. There were 177,000. Mind you, these are people who have all made a down payment of €3,000. Bizarre! We obviously had to disappoint some of them, because we don’t have that much production capacity yet. We were and are still vastly over budget.”
When we spoke to the man two years ago at the unveiling of his first car, he already indicated that Turkey was the base. “If you as a car brand cannot perform in your own home market, you have no business in other countries.” That basis is now there, so Togg is going beyond borders, starting with Western Europe. Remarkably, the brand is not aiming at a market like Norway, like many starting EV manufacturers, but rather at the largest markets. Germany and France are first, at the end of 2024, beginning of 2025. “Germany is the largest car market and the base of the European car industry. We immediately want to grab the bull by the horns and break into that market. Show that we can do it,” says Karakas, who has worked at Bosch for thirty years. As a result, he knows the ‘old world’ he is heading into very well.
The Netherlands will soon follow, but he does not yet have an exact timeframe. “But that decision can be made in a few weeks if things work out logistically in Germany,” he explains. “As you know, we are not planning to work with dealers, but will sell the car online ourselves and work with a number of delivery centers and experience centers. If we want to start in the Netherlands, that will happen very quickly as soon as we make the decision.”
Read an extensive interview with the Togg CEO in AutoWeek soon
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl