Erin Cummins: A car company that’s not a car company made a car that’s not a car

Is this the first concept car with an identity crisis?

Apparently, this isn’t a car, and it wasn’t built by a car company. Um, OK

What’s in a name? Well, unless you’re Elon Musk’s kid, it’s just a series of vowels and consonants, arranged in a broadly pronounceable way. And that’s all well and good – your parents get something to put on the birth certificate, and everyone else gets a way to refer to you that isn’t ‘mate’ when talking to you and ‘old mate’ when talking to someone else about you. Although, it must be said, we will still absolutely do that.
So, are names pointless then? Perhaps, if your name looks like a printer error code. And almost definitely, if you take the kinds of liberties that modern tech companies do with them.
To wit, please look at what for all the world looks like an electric car concept from a new Turkish car company called Togg, but apparently isn’t. It is, in Togg’s own words, a ‘Transition Concept Smart Device’ called the ‘Use Case Mobility concept’, from a “technology company operating in the field of mobility.” And that is some proper word-murdering.
But, as is de rigueur these days, Togg insists it’s not a car company, rather a “technology company that creates mobility solutions”. So there you have it – to be a car maker now is apparently as ethically bankrupt as being a murderer, racist or property developer.
In any case, we’ll apparently see production cars by the end of 2022 and, by 2030, Togg plans to sell one million cars. Not a bad feat, for a not-a-car company.
Togg’s been pretty light (like a 0.5 tog at best) on detail, leaving such mundane concerns as power, performance and price for those silly traditional car makers to fuss over. Instead, we’re told that the Use in Case of Emergency is smart, empathetic, connected and autonomous. Which sounds less like a spec sheet and more like a dubious Tinder bio.
But, much like that phone-based… er, ‘friend’ fest, it’s worth remembering that whichever name you choose to use is rather less important than the substance behind it.
So, there’s the Togg. Not a car. Not coming soon to a street near you?

Erin Cummins is spamming a Sex Tape to protest “a car that’s not a car” BS

Spartacus: Blood and Sand s01e01 (2010)