Automotive Exports December 2019

Veteran executive joins
Turkey’s automobile
initiative
Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) has
appointed a seasoned executive to be its new chief
operating officer (COO), the group announced.
Sergio Rocha, a leading global auto industry executive,
will lead several areas in the group such as product
planning, program management, purchasing, supply
chains, manufacturing engineering and production
operations.
TOGG said in a press release that Rocha has managed
numerous projects across three continents – America,
Europe, and Asia.
In November 2017, Turkey ventured into a
groundbreaking initiative to manufacture its own
domestic automobile. The project has brought together
the country’s largest manufacturers and companies in
a consortium that includes Anadolu Group, BMC, Kök
Group, Turkcell and Zorlu Holding, all experienced in
their own areas of operation.
The five domestic firms, now with 19% shares each,
and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges
(TOBB), with 5% of the shares, lead the TOGG joint
venture. The TOGG was established in 2018 as an
nongovernmental organization (NGO) to develop electric,
autonomous and connected vehicles within a mobility
ecosystem that encompasses these technologies.
Rocha, educated in mechanical and industrial
engineering, has experience in various positions in global
auto giants Volkswagen and General Motors, where he
stayed for 37 years, ending his career there as president,
CEO, and chairman of the board for GM South Korea.
Before TOGG, for two years he was COO of an Indian
electric vehicle initiative.
Gürcan Karakaş, the CEO of TOGG, said: “We’re working
with a team of world-class competencies. In this sense
it is a very important development that Sergio Rocha has
brought his experience in many projects in various parts
of the world to our organization.”
“Rocha will add significant layers to achieve the targets
set by TOGG,” he added in the press release. TOGG’s
team includes well-experienced engineers with 13-15
years’ experience, he noted.
Considered one of the most visionary projects of Turkey,
the automobile is first planned to hit the market as a
sport utility vehicle (SUV) in the C segment and will be
innately electric. The number of models is projected to
increase to five in the following years.
The project includes plans for a 15-year investment
initiative consisting of three phases. The project, whose
intellectual and industrial property rights will be fully
owned by Turkey, is expected to contribute 50 billion
euros ($55.26 billion) to the Turkish economy and 7
billion euros to the current account deficit, and produce
direct and indirect employment for 4,000 and 20,000
people, respectively.
The indigenous automobile is said to be ready for mass
production by 2022, with exports expected to begin two
years later.