Türkiye to unveil 4x4 version of its homegrown EV brand Togg
Employees work on a car assembly line at a factory of Togg at the Gemlik Togg Technology Campus, Bursa, northwestern Türkiye, May 17, 2024. (AFP Photo)


Türkiye will release a 4x4 version of its first homegrown electric vehicle manufacturer, Togg, in the coming months, Industry and Technology Minister Fatih Kacır said Tuesday.

"The 4x4 will be launched in the coming months. Additionally, sedan models will be on the roads next year. 2025 will mark the year Togg begins exporting to Europe," Kacır told private broadcaster A Haber.

Togg's assembly line is currently manufacturing T10X, a C-segment SUV, whose sales were launched last year.

In 2018, Togg was founded as a joint venture between four Turkish companies and the country's chamber of commerce to steer its car industry toward the electric future.

Besides the SUV, the company will manufacture four other models – a fastback, a C-hatchback, B-SUV and B-MPV – by 2030.

Unveiled earlier this year, the fastback sedan, the T10F, is scheduled to go on sale in Türkiye next year and then in the European market, according to the company.

The company has already started working on the B-SUV model, which it named T8X. It could unveil it as soon as next year.

Togg's production capacity is aimed to reach 100,000 vehicles per year before increasing to 175,000 once its plant in the northwestern Bursa province reaches full capacity.

The brand aims to manufacture 1 million vehicles across the five segments by 2030.

Since its launch, the Togg T10X has taken nearly a third of electric car sales in Türkiye and helped lift EV sales ninefold last year, making the Turkish market bigger than Italy and Spain's.

Overall, EV sales hit a record of 65,562 units in 2023, constituting 6.8% of the total auto market.

Togg hopes that the T10X will hit the road in Germany by the end of the year and in France next year before expanding to Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Meanwhile, Kacır said Türkiye needs to do more in the realm of electric vehicles and referred to the incentive program President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Friday.

The $30 billion incentive package aims to attract investments in electric vehicles, battery production, semiconductor manufacturing, and energy technology.

"We will increase Türkiye's electric vehicle production capacity to 1 million per year with a resource of $5 billion," said Kacır.

The program, among others, features a $4.5 billion incentive package for battery production.

The announcement came just weeks after Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD agreed to build a $1 billion production plant in Türkiye with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.

BYD's electric and rechargeable hybrid car production facility, which is planned to start production in Manisa province at the end of 2026, is envisaged to directly employ up to 5,000 people.

BYD is currently the largest EV producer in the world.