Sony, Togg challenging for EV space
Technology brands use CES to reveal latest products chasing the electric vehicle dollar.
Sony’s Vision S-02 (left) is a development of the Vision S-01 it revealed in 2020. The Togg ‘Transition Concept Smart Device’ (below) is a styling exercise previewing five products coming out by 2030, starting with an SUV arriving next year.
TWO technology giants, one a household name and the other an unknown, have shared ambition to develop electric vehicles with global potential.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the common unveiling site of latest planning shared by Japanese electronics manufacturer Sony and also by a Turkish firm, Togg, which presently has little to no profile outside of its home turf but might soon become far more familiar.
Both have used the CES show in Las Vegas, Nevada, to show off vehicles that, though described as concepts, seem to be in close to road-ready state.
Sony’s car is a development of the Vision-S 01 sedan concept it took to the 2020 CES ago, but in a sports utility format.
The Vison S-02 has the same prototype designation as the 01 but with its unveiling comes admission from Sony that it is now looking at putting the vehicles into production.
SONY’s CES presentation raised big media interest.
Vision S-O2 shares many of the four-door's exterior design themes, interior features and mechanical components, but can configure as a seven seater as well as replicating the sedan’s four-chair environment.
Togg’s product, meantime, displays a highly autonomous concept car that it refers to as a 'smart device'.
CEO Mehmet Gurcan Karakas said the company isn't a traditional automotive manufacturer but instead defines itself as a technology company.
Nonetheless, Togg plans to launch one million vehicles in five segments by 2030, with the first, a C-segment SUV, due on sale in the first quarter of 2023. The impetus is to deliver user-centric, data-driven products with the aim of enhancing the mobility experience.
After it establishes the SUV, Togg will deliver a sedan and a hatchback, both also in the medium segment, before the range is expanded with a compact SUV and an MPV. All models will be underpinned by the same modular platform.
Togg’s ‘Transition Concept Smart Device’ at CES takes the form of a low-slung five-door fastback. Whether it also ever becomes publicly available is not clear.
Though signalled as a prototype, the Togg has a fully developed interior and appears road-ready in this five-seater fastback form.
Sony’s second concept runs the same dual-motor electric drivetrain as the 01, placing a 200kW electric motor on each axle for all-wheel drive and a top speed in excess of 180km, and though the body is more upright it also maintains the previous car’s styling language.
The LED front and rear light signatures, smooth surfaces and camera-based door mirrors continue and similarities continue inside. As in the sedan, the SUV has a four-screen dashboard and entertainment screens affixed to the back of the front sports seats.
Sony has given the cars an array of technologies including gesture control sensors, 5G connectivity, support for smartphone companion apps (allowing remote connection to the car), over-the-air updates, and speakers built into the seats.
Occupants can also watch movies or play PlayStation games - via a remote connection to a games console at home - on the cars’ displays.
The cars also have enough driver assists, including lidar sensors and CMOS image sensors, to enable Level 2-plus semi-autonomous driving.