National Technology Initiative: Social Reflections and Türkiye's Future

Rules of the Game are Changing: Automotive Turns into Mobility Ecosystem

Türkiye’s Automobile Initiative Group was launched by bringing together the country’s leading or prominent groups in their fields under the leadership of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), Türkiye’s largest non-governmental organization. With the aim of creating a globally competitive mobility brand, of which the intellectual and industrial property rights would be owned by Türkiye, Togg was officially established on June 25, 2018, with Anadolu Group, BMC, Kök Group, Turkcell, Zorlu, and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye joining forces. The current share distribution of the company, which has a capital of TL 2 billion 643 million 774 thousand, is 23 percent for Anadolu Group, BMC, Turkcell and Zorlu Group, and 8 percent for the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye. Togg describes itself as a user-centric and global mobility technology and services company. As of October 29, 2022, the brand has started serial production of the C-segment SUV, its first born electric, connected smart device, at the Gemlik Togg Technology Campus. Togg develops new services, new user experiences, and new business models in the field of mobility within the ecosystem to be created around the smart and connected device. Togg’s brand DNA can be summarized as “a character that is interested in what is going on in the world, constantly learning, forward-thinking, proactive and transforming its environment into a better place; passionate about its work, entrepreneurial, prioritizing competence, true to its word, caring about its own prestige and the prestige of those around it, striving to add value to every life it touches, stylish, and full of life”. Founded with the aim of creating its own automobile brand, which has been Türkiye’s dream for 60 years, and becoming the first global mobility brand of our country by pioneering the transformation of the Turkish automotive industry, Togg will break new ground with the technical and hardware features of the smart devices it will offer to the market, as well as the mobility ecosystem vision it has developed. The C-SUV model, which will be produced as Türkiye’s first born electric, zero-emission, and smart car, will be ahead of its competitors with features such as the longest wheelbase, the largest interior volume, the best acceleration performance, and the lowest total cost of ownership in its class. The first smart device of Togg, which set out to provide “outside-the-box mobility solutions” that can already respond to future smart transportation needs, will hit the road first in Türkiye in the first quarter of 2023 and then in Europe approximately 18 months after the completion of homologation tests. Togg has established the company Siro with Farasis, the world’s leading lithium ion battery manufacturer, to develop and manufacture its own battery technology and will offer energy storage solutions for mobility and stationary storage applications. Siro, which will develop and manufacture battery cells, modules, and packs, will provide services in 120 countries alongside Togg. In 2021, Togg established a company called Trugo to provide smart energy solutions and strengthen Türkiye’s charging infrastructure from end to end. Accordingly, Trugo has initiated its efforts to establish a total of 1000 fast charging stations in more than 600 locations in 81 provinces.

M. Gürcan Karakaş
DOI: 10.53478/TUBA.978-625-8352-17-7.ch16