UK debut for new V6-powered Totem GT Super
With up to 750hp, Totem Automobili's Alfa restomod could be the car to electrify Salon Prive
Those with exceptional powers of recall may remember that we brought you news of the Totem GTelectric (as it was then known) back in 2020, when the first car was revealed in Italy. Despite being powered by witchcraft (i.e. a 50.4kWh battery) t received quite the response - mostly because it was an exceptionally pretty take on a 1300 (or 1600) Alfa Giulia GT Junior. Probably we all marvelled at it for five minutes, then completely forgot about it. Because you were hardly likely to ever see one.
Until now, that is. Because Totem Automobili has just announced that its latest version of the car will be making its UK debut at Salon Privé later this month, so anyone attending Blenheim Palace will certainly get to drink it in. This follows a supremely nice write-up in a national newspaper - you may have seen it - and is accompanied by the revelation that there is now a choice of powertrains. The first is the vaguely familiar (albeit updated) GT Electric with 500hp and a 295-mile range from a larger 81kWh battery. The second option, much more interestingly, is the Totem GT Super - and that gets a new 2.8-litre twin-turbo V6.
Praise be, eh? Now, if we’re honest, it could very well be that Totem has announced the petrol motor previously and we missed it (its founder - and the car’s chief creator - Riccardo Quaggio, has been remarkably forthright about saying he prefers combustion engines; they’re just harder to do) but either way, it’s here now and the prospect is a tantalising one. Not least because the firm claims that with a weight of less than 180kg, it’s ‘the most compact and lightweight such powerplant ever.’
And even if we treat that declaration with a pinch of salt, we’re still looking at dry-sumped 90-degree V6 with 600hp in Stage 1 guise, or, if you prefer, 750hp in Stage 2 - the latter arriving at 8,300rpm. Which, given we’re dealing with a car with a quoted 1,180kg kerbweight, is likely to be plenty. Its maker has dubbed the engine ‘Gloria’ and armed it with four distinct maps (no kidding: Turtle, Car, Plane, Spaceship) alongside a six-speed gearbox.
Elsewhere the rear-drive GT is much as Totem Automobili originally promised, in that it fuses a carbon fibre monocoque with the donor car’s original (stripped and refurbished) structure. The chassis features aluminium double wishbones front and back, electric power steering, and the mechanical limited-slip differential it almost certainly needs. The GT Electric is reportedly said to cost in the region of £400k; no word on the price of the V6 yet, although you wouldn’t bet on it being much less.
“With the Totem GT, we keep the design, we keep the aesthetic of the original, but in the end, it’s a new car,” said Riccardo Quaggio. “The whole project is built around relentless research processes of engineering solutions, that made it possible to overcome the mechanics and structures of the original GT, establishing new standards never achieved before.” We for one can’t wait to meet the result.
So how much of the original steel monocoque remains? Just the floor and maybe the firewall?
Also, has the V6 been specially-developed just for this car, or is it bought in from another manufacturer? I'm guessing that it's the latter.
What I cannot fathom however, is why you'd put a huge power turbo v6 boat anchor in the front. That's unforgivable.
If a V6 soundtrack is a must, it should be NA, so you have immediate throttle response - as befitting such a car.
For everyone who think's it's "stunning", this is what you're missing out on.
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