Togg T10X on first try

Electric cars are like a gold rush in the American west. Everyone is smelling a lot of money and electric car startups are still mushrooming. Tesla provides an incentive: focus on key components of the car, buy others, build a factory off the ground and ensure an adequate payment structure. Basically any self-proclaimed car manufacturer with significant capital can do this. Dealers are a dime a dozen and the art of building a highly efficient combustion engine is no longer needed. This means that the technological advantage of established car manufacturers is no longer possible.

Togg in cockpit: Second lounge

This is exactly the strategy that Togg is following. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has given his chance and, in Gürcan Karakas, he has found a CEO who knows the car business inside out. “We want to be more than a car manufacturer,” says the man with a slight Swabian accent. No wonder: Karakas worked at Bosch for more than 20 years and was responsible, among other things, for the Asian business. This iron shower now helps the person with kind eyes because he has reached his conclusion from this time.

The technical father of Togg was Bosch

You notice this as soon as you get behind the wheel of the Togg TX10. Because you’re looking at the XXXL screen, which includes a 12.3-inch instrument display and a 29-inch monitor that basically runs from A-pillar to A-pillar. Coast-to-Coast called Byton, the Turkish automaker is implementing that vision. However, the Togg variant does not affect the field of vision, as was the case with the Chinese starting cars. Togg is not dependent on Apple or Google, but has developed its own operating system, which, like smartphones, includes an app store. Apps are dragged and dropped onto the home screen and the phone is charged wirelessly with power in the charging cradle.

The operation works without any major problems, although the menu is a little complicated. We are happy about the rotary push button as we know it from BMW, which, however, lacks the tactile quality of the original Munich. Another monitor above the center console is used to adjust the climate and configure the above screens. This means that passengers can put together their own entertainment program.

Electric steering and modern steering

Togg calls the passenger cell a second living room and the infotainment is designed accordingly. To achieve this, the Turkish automaker has brought big players from almost all sectors of the country’s economy on board, including Turkish Airlines. Here you can listen to the radio, do business, buy plane tickets and order them from online mail order companies, shop at Migros, Turkey’s largest supermarket chain, or even complete your tax returns in one system. “We have created our own ecosystem,” explains Gürcan Karakas.

That is why there is also its own currency, Toggen (onomatopoeically similar to the English word “token”). As with an airline, you collect miles or other points for transactions and activities, which you can exchange to Toggen, for example to charge your batteries at a charging station. But entertainment is also provided: thanks to artificial intelligence, the AI ​​radio creates playlists that match the user’s taste based on the chosen genre of music.

Own “ecosystem” for digital performance

Screens are also used to create digital artworks. With such a large production, Togg has already caused a stir at the CES technology trade show. Now bits-and-bytes pictures decorate the exterior walls of the factory in Gemlik. Some features are activated via facial recognition in the car. The camera is also used to take selfies. “We are focusing on digital localization,” says Togg’s boss. None of this sounds like Tesla, but more like Apple.

Despite all the software’s capabilities, a car like the Togg TX10 still has to get its passengers from A to B. And as smoothly as possible. Just like you use your smartphone to make calls and not just take pictures or watch TikTok videos. The Turkish SUV does a great job of fulfilling its core competencies. Even if the steering column is very short and the seats can provide more lateral support. We are sitting in the top model of the T10X AWD Long Range with 320 kW / 435 hp, a maximum torque of 700 Newton meters, a wheel drive and a battery with a capacity of 88.5 kilowatt hours, which should last for a maximum of 468 kilometers. depending on the cycle of WLTP. The engines are from Bosch, of course.

All-wheel drive with 435 hp – with the German market in mind

Even without rear axle steering, the Togg 10X with a length of 4.60 meters should have a circumference of 9.50 meters. The 2,165 kg car can be moved with relative ease. Thanks to the electric power, the TX10 can also move forward cheerfully if it wants to. The electric car completes a normal race from zero to 100 km / h in 4.8 seconds and at 185 km / h it is high. Togg states the average consumption as 19.7 kWh/100. The three driving modes Eco, Comfort and Sport are selected using the left side of the two buttons on the front of the center console. It’s a little fiddly at first, but after a while you get used to it. The right side is for the power to recover in three steps along the coast.

If you choose a more stable setting, you can move the electric SUV by driving with one popular pedal. The chassis is comfortably placed. We also drove the base variant with rear-wheel drive with 160 kW / 218 hp and 350 Nm of torque, which takes 7.8 seconds for a normal sprint and we found this engine to be sufficient. With the big battery there are 523 km If you choose the version, there are still 314 km.

Togg with a range between 314 and 523 km

When it comes to electric charging, Togg can easily compete with competitors such as Skoda Enyaq or VW ID.4. On the contrary: not all competitors can reach 22 kW in the AC range. At a charge rate of 11 kW, the battery is charged from 20 to 80 percent in 345 minutes. If you manage a fast DC charging station, the Stromer 10X can reach a maximum rate of 180 kW. Then it takes only 28 minutes. To do this in Turkey, 1,000 fast charging stations should be placed along the main traffic arteries.

Türkiye plans fast charging stations on highways and interstates

The TX10 offers a lot when it comes to driving aids: adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, traffic jam assistant and parking assistant are also on board. The 10X is scheduled to arrive in Germany by the end of the year. It remains to be seen whether digital applications can be directly replicated here. It is quite possible that Amazon and Co will be involved in this platform.

Price between 40,000 and 65,000 euros

A maximum of 2,000 to 3,000 cars are planned to be sold in Germany. In 2025 there should be more. With 1.5 million citizens holding Turkish passports, national pride will also be needed between Flensburg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. German prices have not yet been determined. In Turkey it starts around 40,000 euros, the top version should cost more than 65,000 euros. As in Turkey, sales will be done directly and so-called experience centers will be created in major cities such as Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. “You must take the bull aside”; Karakas is glowing and already making plans for the future. Additional models are expected to generate sales over the next five years. Sedan (10F), small SUV (T8X), van or light commercial vehicle. There should be a million Toggs on the road by 2032.

By Wolfgang Gomoll