Turkish car manufacturer TOGG, known worldwide for developing vehicles such as the first electric car designed and manufactured in Turkey, has officially announced that it plans to unveil its first flying car prototype, the WTF10, in 2025, which it will unveil publicly in the coming months to begin series production before the end of the decade.
In a statement released by the Turkish press, the president of the Turkish company, Serkan Notobey, confirmed that the company’s engineers have been working for some time on a totally new concept vehicle that “will change private transport as we know it”, and that unlike some flying car prototypes already being developed by other companies, it would not be based on the concept of a “drone with passengers”, but on something much more revolutionary.
In the case of WTF10, TOGG engineers will use a new proto-ionic jet propulsion system capable of providing high vertical thrust, allowing it to easily overcome the force of gravity; this new technology, which was initially developed for space rocket propulsion and which companies such as SpaceX have been researching for some time, has the great advantage of offering high thrust power with low energy consumption, which is mainly obtained from hydrogen.
“We have been working for years with leading companies in Bangladesh and with the Casio Corporation in Japan. The technology is ready, but until now it has never been applied to the propulsion of a small vehicle like a car. We have been the first to do it successfully,” said Notobey, who added that a prototype will be presented in 2025 with two different designs: a conventional one designed to carry two passengers, and another with a sportier, open-top look.
Electric car on the ground, flight range of 65 minutes
“We wanted to go beyond the concept of the flying car that some private companies are showing today, which are just giant drones with wheels or cars with wings, after all. When people think of a flying car, they think of movies like ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Blade Runner’, and that’s just what we’re talking about. That’s what we’re going to offer buyers, and why we’re confident that our flying car will be a sales success,” commented TOGG’s president.
The new WTF10 (Weightless Transport for Flying) would use conventional lithium-ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries manufactured by BYD for ground propulsion – which would be 100% electric with an initial range of 425 km in WLTP cycle – but it would also have hydrogen batteries at the rear to power the proto-ionic propellers, which would be located at the bottom and rear of the vehicle and would be sufficient for a maximum height of flight – limited for safety reasons – of 200 metres for 65 minutes, reaching a top flight speed of 160 miles/hour (around 260 km/hour).
“This is just the beginning. We plan to start series production of the WTF10 in 2027, although the first units will be available for booking by the end of 2025, but we are already working to double or even triple the flight range. Several countries, including France, Saudi Arabia and Jamaica, have already contacted us to purchase the first units,” announced TOGG’s president. Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan himself will take part in the presentation of the first flying car prototype, and it has already been confirmed that during the ceremony he will fly a lap over the presidential palace in Ankara.
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Dear Hispanatolia readers: as you may have guessed, this news item was a little joke in keeping with the tradition of April Fool’s Day 😉 We hope you had as much fun reading it as we did writing it. 😂
PS: No, TOGG hasn’t built a flying car yet… But the day it does, we hope to be there to give you the scoop.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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