Italian design firm Pininfarina, well-known for producing some of Ferrari's most enduring designs, has now helped pen what will become Turkey's first domestically produced passenger vehicle.
That vehicle is the TOGG C-SUV - a battery-electric crossover loaded with 21st-century tech, which was unveiled just this week. TOGG is an acronym that stands for "Türkiye'nin Otomobili Girisim Grubu" - or "Turkey's Automobile Enterprise Group" - and it was formed out of a consortium of five large Turkish firms with the express goal of establishing domestic vehicle production in the country. That's a dream Turkey has held for some six decades.
The TOGG C-SUV was developed from the ground up on a brand-new electric vehicle platform, and it will be offered with a choice of two battery packs - one with an advertised range of roughly 300 kilometers, and one with 500 km. TOGG says the battery pack will be capable of recharging to an 80-percent state-of-charge in less than 30 minutes, making it livable enough on longer journeys.
The base powertrain of the TOGG C-SUV will have one 200-horsepower electric motor powering the rear axle, while an optional AWD system will see a second motor turning the front wheels, for a combined output rating of 400 hp.
In RWD guise, the C-SUV will launch from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 7.6 seconds, according to TOGG, while the AWD version will complete the same sprint in just 4.8 seconds. Those figures are a far cry from the top-performing Tesla Model X's touted 2.7 seconds to 60 mph, but still impressive for a crossover utility vehicle.
Inside the TOGG C-SUV is a broad digital display that houses the controls for the HVAC and entertainment systems, and an embedded modem will keep the C-SUV connected on-the-go. Coolest of all, though, is the vehicle's "Holographic Assistant," which will use eye-tracking and 3D holographic imaging tech to provide valuable visual information that doesn't require the driver to take his or her eyes off the road.
The TOGG C-SUV is expected to launch in 2022, and its platform will go on to underpin a total of five TOGG model lines.