Turkey details national electric car project
Turkish Industry Minister Mustafa Varank announced that the first electric car produced in Turkey will have a range of 500 km and will be launched in the second half of 2022. A prototype will apparently be presented at the end of this year.
“We will develop an electric vehicle that can easily compete with rivals,” the minister said. “We do not see it as only a car project. This is a technological project that will transform the country’s entire automotive industry and boost the local automotive industry’s competitiveness in the international arena” Varank also stressed that the car will not be developed by the public sector, but by private companies.
In concrete terms, five companies – the Anadolu Group, BMC, Kıraça Holding, Turkcell and Zorlu Holding – have joined forces to form the joint venture Türkiye’nin Otomobili Girişim Grubu Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ (translated: joint venture for the Turkish automotive industry and trade). They each hold 19 per cent of shares, the remaining five per cent belong to the Union of Turkish Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB). The managing director is the former Bosch manager Mehmet Gürcan Karakaş.
According to an earlier report, the electric debut vehicle will be an electric limousine with range extender based on the Saab 9-3. The Turkish consortium, founded in November 2017, is planning a total of three electric models on a common platform.
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