From Devrim to the era of domestic brands

For many years, the domestic automobile in Turkey was never just about a car. Devrim Arabaları was discussed as a symbol of the memory of unfinished business, while Togg was seen as a symbol of a new industrial and technological ambition. Today, however, the debate is moving beyond a single symbol: The domestic automobile is becoming less of a success story and more a matter of competition, scale, and sustainable industrial performance.

On the line between Devrim and Togg, Anadol stands as an important intermediate link in this story. Entering mass production in 1966, Anadol moved the idea of a domestic automobile from the prototype stage to a brand experience that reached the market and the user. The foreign contributions to its design and mechanical infrastructure were already laying the groundwork for today's debate: The issue of a domestic automobile was not just about where the car was produced, but where the brand, engineering, and value chain were positioned.

Last year, while discussing the line from Devrim to Togg in this column, I was actually asking another form of the same question: "When will the domestic automobile in Turkey be able to be discussed simply as a car?" Because in Turkey, the success or failure of a domestic automobile has often been evaluated through the symbolic meaning it carries, rather than the vehicle's technical specifications, production capacity, or economic sustainability. Perhaps today, we are approaching the answer to that question for the first time.

Togg is taking the first test of this new era through scale. Togg is moving from a single model to a product family and is preparing to descend from the C segment to the B segment, which can create higher volume. On the other side, HABAŞ is working to produce its own passenger car at the factory it took over from Honda Turkey. Thus, the "domestic automobile" debate in Turkey is moving from the symbolic success of a single project toward an industrial equation involving multiple players.

The new question for Togg: Not how many cars, but how much scale?

When evaluating Togg's 2025 sales in March, I wrote that the real issue was scale rather than sales rankings. Togg bringing over 39 thousand T10X and T10F vehicles to users was not a threshold to be underestimated for a young brand. However, the volumes expressed in the hundreds of thousands by global manufacturers producing in Turkey reminded us of the harsher reality of the automotive economy: The way to cover high fixed costs is not just by producing good cars, but by creating sufficient volume.

In that article, I stated that it would be difficult to create a sustainable automotive brand with two models, and that more accessible small segments and different models derived from the same platform would become critical. Six months have passed, and the new steps taken by Togg have been directed exactly toward this area.

Following the T10X and T10F, the T6X is now coming. Togg Chairman of the Board Fuat Tosyalı announced that demand collection for the T6X is planned to begin in June 2027, and the first vehicles are planned to meet users at the end of the same month. It is not yet possible to speak of a definitive sales price; however, it is stated that the previously mentioned price target of approximately 1.3 million TL is being maintained.

What is really important here is not the 1.3 million TL figure itself. Evaluating 2027's price with 2026's purchasing power would be misleading. What is important is where Togg is strategically heading: a smaller, more accessible, and therefore higher-volume segment.

Moreover, the T6X is not coming alone. In May, Togg signed an agreement with CATL subsidiary CAIT to develop a joint platform in the B segment. According to the company's statement, instead of purchasing a ready-made platform, Togg will also participate in the development process regarding product requirements, user experience, and digital architecture. It is planned that three models based on this infrastructure will be introduced to the market gradually starting from mid-2027. For this reason, reading the T6X only as a "cheap Togg" would be incomplete. The real issue is whether Togg can move beyond the sales success of a single model and transform into an automotive company that can produce multiple models from the same platform, spread its costs, and create volume. The company's first concrete answer to the question we asked in March, "Can Togg create scale?", is emerging here.

Now the second player is preparing for the field

On the HABAŞ side, the official framework is limited for now but significant: The company purchased Honda Turkey's passenger car factory and is conducting preparations for car production there. Investments in heavy and light commercial vehicles and buses are also progressing as part of a broader production move in the automotive sector.

One must be a bit more cautious regarding information beyond this. In reports based on supply industry sources in recent weeks, it is stated that HABAŞ is working on two models, a sedan and a crossover; that hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and gasoline power options are planned; and that Frank Stephenson, who has worked for brands such as BMW, Ferrari, and McLaren, is involved in the design process. The expectation that the vehicles will be shown by the end of the year is also based on the same sources. HABAŞ has not yet officially announced a model name, a definitive introduction date, price, or sales calendar.

Nevertheless, HABAŞ preparing for passenger car production is significant in itself. Because Turkey is approaching a period where two domestic automobile brands coming from different capital and technology models can exist in the market at the same time. And I think the real change starts here.

From a single "national car" to the era of domestic brands

When there is a single domestic automobile, the car easily turns into a symbol. Its success is measured not only by sales figures but by the meaning it represents; its criticism often goes beyond technical or economic critique. When the second brand arrives, the equation changes.

Now the questions are becoming more concrete: Which one offers a better price, which one has higher quality, which one creates more domestic value-added? Which one exports more; how are the service network, second-hand value, software infrastructure, and engineering capacity shaped? Most importantly, which one can develop its new models faster and at a lower cost? In other words, competition can pull the concept of "domestic automobile" from the symbolic realm to measurable industrial performance. At this point, the concept of domesticity also needs to be rethought.

Turkey has already been a country producing automobiles for decades. Global companies such as Ford Otosan, Renault, Toyota, and Hyundai produce in high volumes in Turkey and carry out significant amounts of exports. Therefore, the production of a car in Turkey and the existence of a brand belonging to Turkey are not the same thing.

On the other hand, being a domestic brand does not mean that all parts are produced in Turkey. Today's automotive industry operates through global supply networks, joint platforms, software companies, and technology partnerships. The B-segment platform that Togg is developing with CAIT is a current example of this. For this reason, "domesticity" is no longer a concept simple enough to be explained by counting the passports of the parts. The real criterion is where Turkey stands in the value chain and in which links of this chain it develops permanent competence.

Is engineering knowledge accumulating here? Is intellectual property being created? Is software being developed? Can domestic suppliers transition to new technologies? Is competence being formed in high value-added areas such as batteries, electronics, and power transmission systems? Can the brand export? These will determine the economic meaning of the domestic automobile.

The question has been changing since Devrim

In 1961, the question asked with Devrim Arabaları was roughly: Can Turkey develop its own automobile?

With Anadol, which entered mass production in 1966, the question was taken a step further: Can Turkey move a domestic brand to mass production and sustain it in the market? The foreign contributions to Anadol's design and mechanical infrastructure brought with them another question that we are still debating today: What exactly makes a car "domestic"?

With Togg, the question was re-established this time under the conditions of the new automotive age: Can Turkey move a new domestic brand to mass production in the middle of the electric transformation? Today, with Togg expanding its product range, we are at a new stage: Can this brand create scale?

If HABAŞ also enters the passenger car market, the question will change once again: Can Turkey create not one, but more than one competitive domestic automobile brand?

I think the real breaking point of the domestic automobile adventure is here. Because from now on, success cannot be defined solely by the establishment of the factory or the car rolling off the assembly line. Product variety, cost, quality, exports, technology ownership, contribution to the supply chain, and the brand's capacity to survive over the years will be decisive.

Devrim remained an engineering success; it did not turn into an automotive program that achieved mass production and continuity. Togg has moved to mass production; now it is in the test of scale and global competition. HABAŞ is still at the beginning of the road. Perhaps for the first time, the domestic automobile debate in Turkey is coming to where it should be: From a success story of a car to a debate on how the success of an automotive industry should be measured. Because the question from now on is no longer "Do we have a domestic automobile?" Will these brands still be here ten years from now?