KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently shared a light-hearted moment behind the wheel with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who joined him as a passenger during a test drive of Turkiye’s electric vehicle, the Togg T10X.
The white Togg T10X was presented to Anwar as a gift from Erdogan, symbolising their close friendship following the Turkish leader’s two-day visit to Malaysia.
In a video shared by Anwar this afternoon, he quipped about his driving skills during the test drive.
“I’m surprised you trust my driving,” Anwar said, prompting Erdogan to ask, “Why?”
“Because I hardly drive… and we drive on the left-hand side,” Anwar replied, laughing.
The video posted on his official Facebook page has garnered more than 100,000 views in an hour.
A Turkish official seated in the back then joked about whether it might be safer for them to step out of the vehicle.
Anwar also shared that his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had raised similar concerns.
“Because she doesn’t trust me (driving)… But I drove (left-hand) when I was teaching at Georgetown (University) in Washington. But I rarely drove,” he explained.
Anwar previously served as a professor of Islam in Southeast Asia at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he lectured on contemporary politics in the region, focusing on Islam’s role in shaping its political evolution.
During the test drive, Erdogan praised the Togg T10X’s sound insulation, asking, “My brother, you don’t hear anything right?”
Anwar agreed, saying, “Yes. It is very quiet.”
The drive ended at the Seri Perdana Complex, where both leaders attended the exchange of agreements, a joint press conference, and a luncheon.
Togg, Turkiye’s first national electric vehicle manufacturer, was established in 2018 and represents a significant milestone in the country’s automotive industry.
