Turkey reveals prototypes of first homegrown electric car

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled on Friday his nation’s first indigenously manufactured electric automobile, a project that has hit several setbacks over the years.

The Turkish leader introduced two slick and flashing prototypes, a C segment SUV and a C segment Sedan, during a ceremony at the Gebze industrial zone, located 50 km south of Istanbul, the industrial heartland of Turkey.

Erdogan sat on the driving seat and test-drove one of the vehicles which will have a driving distance of up to 500 km with a locally produced Lithium-ion battery with a maximum speed of 180 km/h. He didn’t reveal the name of the car brand.

According to a presidential decree published hours before the ceremony broadcasted live, a 3.7 billion-U.S. dollar investment will enable the serial production of five models and a total output of 175,000 vehicles a year.

The prototypes which are reportedly designed in Italy, made their debut to the public under the patronage of Turkey’s five largest industrial companies that have joined hands under Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group to build the car.

The project is expected to contribute 50 billion U.S. dollars to the Turkish economy in the 15 years following 2022, when the first vehicle of the C-SUV is expected to hit the road, according to Mehmet Gurcan Karakas, the CEO of TOGG. The investment will enjoy comprehensive tax cuts, free land allocation, interest rate reductions and a government purchase guarantee of 30,000 vehicles until the end of 2035, according to the decree.

“Efforts leading to the birth of this prototype were enormous and I personally think that there will be a real market for this car once it will be produced in 2022,” automotive expert Saffet Ucuncu told private broadcaster NTV.