The project to produce a fully home-grown car has been a longtime goal of Erdogan and his ruling AK Party as a demonstration of the major emerging market’s economic power.
Ahead of the unveiling, Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) — the consortium that produced the prototype — published a video of the vehicle wrapped in black tarpaulin driving along highways and over a bridge.
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The TOGG SUV will be available in two variants: one that has a 300km and a 500km range. The more powerful version is able to go from 0 to 100kph in 4.8s. Charging up the vehicle to 80% full is anticipated to take 30 mins.
Turkey is already a big exporter to Europe of cars made domestically by firms such as Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Renault, Toyota and Hyundai.
The new project, launched in October, will receive state support such as tax breaks, and establish a production facility in the automotive hub of Bursa in northwest Turkey, according to a presidential decision in the country’s Official Gazette.
Five versions of the car will be produced by a workforce of more than 4,000 people, the statement said, adding the government had guaranteed to buy 30,000 of the vehicles by 2035.
The first vehicle, a C-SUV, will be introduced in 2022, according to TOGG’s website.
The group has been giving visual hints about the vehicle on its Twitter page for the past few days. The car was designed by Italy’s Pininfarina SpA, Dunya newspaper reported on Dec 11.
The project is expected to contribute US$50 billion (RM206bil) to the Turkish economy in the 15 years following 2022, according to Mehmet Gurcan Karakas, the chief executive officer of the consortium.
Investors are obliged to provide at least 3.5 billion liras (RM2.4bil) in cash as capital by the end of 2023.
Erdogan first revealed plans in November 2017 here to launch a car made entirely in Turkey by 2021. He is expected to drive the prototype over a suspension bridge at a ceremony today in the north-western district of Gebze.
TOGG was established in mid 2018 by five industrial groups: Anadolu Group, BMC, Kok Group, mobile phone operator Turkcell and Zorlu Holding, the parent of TV maker Vestel.
TOGG’s CEO is former Bosch executive Gurcan Karakas and its chief operating officer is Sergio Rocha, former General Motors Korea chief executive. It said it will begin production in 2022 with sport utility vehicles in the compact car segment.
In October, Volkswagen said it postponed a final decision on whether to build a car plant in Turkey amid international criticism of an October Turkish military operation in Syria. — Additional reporting by Bloomberg
