[wheelguy]

Turkey’s Automobile Joint Venture Group (TOGG) which was announced in 2017 by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and showcased its first two products in December (a sedan and an SUV), has submitted its design registration applications in India to the concerned authorities.

As per a report from Turkish news outlet Dailysabah, TOGG’s applications are pending approval in countries like India, the United States, South Korea, Japan and China, and are expected to be cleared by the end of 2020. The group has also applied for industrial property rights for the car to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TürkPatent). EVW could not independently verify the applications.

The first car from the brand will be a C-Segment electric SUV that is expected to start production in 2022 from a new factory in the country’s Bursa province. The design of the C-SUV has also been registered as a trademark by the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the industrial property rights provided by the EUIPO will be valid until February 2029. The trademark can also be extended after that if TOGG applies for it. Cruise control system, interchangeable battery system, semi-replaceable battery and the mechanical connection structure are some of the features included in the patent applications.

The Indian connection to the project is via Pininfarina, which is owned by the Mahindra Group. The Italian design house that has clients all over the world today has worked with TOGG for the design of the SUV. The looks, features and specs of the TOGG sedan & SUV made the world sit up and take notice as it was driven on to the stage by the Turkish president in an event in the Kocaeli province on 27 December.

https://youtu.be/Pz8ZIQxdhhk

Source

[Reinhard]

I hope they have also applied for anticipatory bankruptcy protection along with trademark & design registration.
(Just don't see a Turkish car maker having any chance in our market.)

[SKC-auto]

Nice photo opportunity to His highness Mr. Erdogan. The actual development done in Turkey is 0.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/m...al-two-ev-suvs

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

I hope they have also applied for anticipatory bankruptcy protection along with trademark & design registration.
(Just don't see a Turkish car maker having any chance in our market.)

If cars like Hector can sway Indian buyers, I don't see any reason why a Turkish car can't! Just need to induce the value-ness of the product, which the Indian Mass loves.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

If cars like Hector can sway Indian buyers, I don't see any reason why a Turkish car can't! Just need to induce the value-ness of the product, which the Indian Mass loves.

China & the Chinese rarely fail when they decide to do/achieve something. Turky isn't a benchmark for that. We are talking of a market that has kept world leaders like VWAG limping for a decade & pushed giants like GM, FIAT-Chrysler to their graves. Of course, I'm only speculating. Only time can tell.

[srishiva]

Looks good though. Has smooth and clean lines as opposed to the sharp, bulbous designs we see in India. Has kind of BMW, Audi/Porsche design cues on the sides.

Mahindra should get one done by Pininfarina for itself first.

[Nikhildrao]

Turkey with all due respect is not a country that has had a taste of globalization and competitive nature of capitalism.
Hence, there's no way that they can make a C-SUV that can go against Model Y or the upcoming Mustang EV in the US let alone a price/brand conscious nation like ours.

[Reinhard]

I wonder what it is recently with SUV designs! Just like the new SantaFe, this one also has a very good looking, very European rear, meeting a face that's lifted straight from preschool animated learning videos!

[Zed]

Turkey is a relatively mature automotive market. Apart from a handful of homegrown players, global OEs and tier-1's have engineering and manufacturing bases in the region. For instance, ford has one of its largest engineering centers (outside of the US) near Istanbul. TOGG has been recruiting talents from OEs and tier-1's in Europe and from that perspective its no mom&pop outfit. Its association with the Turkish political establishment probably undermines the global perception about this brand.

On the topic of how they'd fare in India - setting up the distribution and service network would be challenging even with a fairly decent product offering. Aligning with a local business house would be the way to go.