Let’s get TOGGED out

Turkey have announced another attempt at creating their own auto manufacturing industry.  President Erdogan announced the TOGG SUV in recent weeks.  The TOGG consortium, called Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group was established during 2018, and is a joint undertaking between the Anadolu Group, BMC, Kok Group, mobile phone operator Turkcell and Zorlu Holding, the parent of TV maker Vestel.  It is a commendable venture, more so as they have fully embraced the electric route, and I wish Turkey luck with this.  Note that several car manufacturers have assembly lines in Turkey already, so this is not a complete shot in the dark as the industry expertise is already present.  

Highlights

With class leading wheelbase length, this particular Pininfarina-designed SUV offers the longest rear seat legroom of any SUV on the market.  Couple that with high headroom and this SUV should be ideal for families.  State of the art lithium ion battery technology gives two different range options for the consumer – one configuration offers 300 km of range while the higher configuration will offer a range of 500 km.   

And my bugbear of electric vehicles needs to be looked at – a rapid charging time of 30 minutes to get the battery charged to 80% is definitely a step in the right direction.  TOGG also claim their battery management and liquid thermal management systems will allow for long lasting battery packs.  To keep the good news coming, they also offer an 8 year warranty on the battery packs.

Two different drivetrains will be available – let’s look at the RWD option first.  The powerplant in this version is a single e-motor at the rear wheels, rated at 200BHP, good for the 100km/h sprint in 7.6 seconds. The second option is a 4WD variant – this has the added benefit of a second e-motor also driving the front wheels (hence 4WD) and is rated at 400BHP.  That’s more like it – this one leaves its little brother in the dust during the 100km/h sprint, completing the sprint in 4.8 seconds …

Hang on … 4.8 seconds?  All electric?  Cheap to run and won’t be anymore expensive than the DBX … and is nearly as fast … hmm.  At this rate, my next car will be an electric something …. and that, dear reader, is quite a seismic shift.

Especially if it comes to market with this interior – I love the idea of wing cameras instead of wing mirrors.  Permanent internet connection (without the need for devices … I’d love to know how this was done) and slow traffic autopilot … that’s cool.   I also like the dashboard layout and gimmicks, and the seats look very similar to my current setup in the XF.   Couple all this with front and rear ventilated disc brakes and a 5 star EuroNCAP rating, this is my sort of thing for sure.

TOGG C-SUV 4WD – Vital Statistics