CENTRAL NEWS
The “Domestic automakers” project being undertaken by the Turkey Automobile Enterprise Group (TOGG), has proudly announced that the engine of their Italy-designed “Domestic Car” will be made by Germany while the battery will be made by China and the chassis by England.
TOGG is owned by a partnership of Turkcell, Vestel (Ahmet Nazif Zorlu), Anadolu Group (Mr. Özilhan), BMC (Ethem Sancak) and Turkey Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB). The TOGG group was formed as a project of the government on the basis of creating a “national and domestic” car in Turkey. A project which was supposed to increase trust in the economic power of Turkey, as well as promoting narratives of Turkish superiority, proves to be more of a failure each time it arises to the agenda.
The Erdogan regime has spent millions of taxpayer money promoting a twenty-year campaign for the domestic production of a car. After spending billions of dollars on the production of two prototypes which were introduced by Erdogan himself, the vehicle started to attract attention – but not a positive one. The car which is increasingly becoming an economic burden to the AKP regime, has turned out to be non-domestic.
Interior design is German
Haberturk writer Fatih Altay explained that the interior of the “local and national” car was designed by a German company for almost 250 million euros.
Altaylı said, “Moreover, you are announcing that you are give a quarter of a billion (250 million) Euros, as if it was ingenuity” the writer directed criticism at an announcement made by TOGG representatives.
Altaylı congratulated the managers of TOGG, and said: “I am grateful for the effort they have shown for our domestic and national, Italian exterior and German interior car.”
Exterior Design is Italian
According to Yeni Cag Gazetesi, a Turkish news website, the exterior of the prototyped models were designed by an Italian car design firm named Pininfarina. An expert who spoke to the news website explained:
“The company named Pininfarina, which designed the vehicle, earns astronomical amounts of money by producing prototype vehicles for many automobile companies such as Maserati, Aston Martin, Mc Laren, Jaguar and Lexus.
For example, if the logo of our national car introduced by Tayyip Erdogan had not written TOGG on it, it would have probably written LEXUS at the first auto show next year. Because that’s what Italians do, they design and sell. ”
Engine is German
One of the most essential components of a vehicle, the engine, has been agreed to be produced by Bosch. The CEO for TOGG, Gürcan Karakaş, explained that Bosch makes better engines so it made more sense to buy the most important component of a “national” car from Germany:
“…But Bosch does this better than anyone else. Better to buy than to do it on our scale of production. We do not start with a few hundred, we start with thousands in production! We start with a few thousands. It will rise, but the initial figure is thousands. There is no logic in producing this engine. Buying is more efficient in every way.”
Battery is Chinese
The battery for the TOGG was agreed to be bought from a Chinese firm named Farasis. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Chairman of TOGG, tried to hide their failure by emphasising that the partnership would help Turkey’s energy effeiciency. The chairman said the following about the agreement reached between Farasis and TOGG:
“The joint venture company to be established with Farasis will also be an initiative to increase the efficiency of our country’s energy system, reduce our country’s external dependency on energy, and accelerate our development of a clean and efficient energy system.
In this way, TOGG’s mobility ecosystem will become an important regional player that develops technology and creates serious economic value.”
Chassis system is English
CEO Karakaş had also explained to Birgün news agency that the Chassis system of the car would be built by the English company Myra. The vehicle integration system, the technological systems such as navigatoions and parking sensosrs are to be created by the German engineering company, EDAG.
Karakaş had said: “We chose German engineering firm EDAG as our technology partner for vehicle integration. Myra, which is accepted by England, is one of our partners in chassis systems and especially on mechanical grounds. We agreed with Italians for design.”
A failure
The not-so-domestic national car continues to prove a failure even though it is not being made by Turkish manufacturers.
On the day the vehicle prototypes were finally exhibited, Erdogan test drove the vehicle himself and the footage taken from the test drive show that the speedometer and gear display monitor was faulty.
During the test drive by Tayyip Erdogan, it was noticed that the digital speedometer instantly dropped to 00 while the vehicle was being driven. Social media users also drew attention to the gear display monitor indicating that the car was in a parked position, also while it was being driven.
Dikkatli @vdemirkusak gösterdi az önce vites park pozisyonunda hız göstergesi de “00” ekranlarla bağlantı mı yok? @RumBat @eozpeynirci https://t.co/66CcEOhafN
— yaman yılmaz (@yaman_yilmaz) December 29, 2019
