Hand-built 386kW retro EV from Italy is a carbon-fibre work of automotive art
Italian automotive outfit Totem Automobili has revealed its Alfa Romeo GT electric, a highly-modified restoration (or restomod) of the classic 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA.
Propelled by a potent 386kW/940Nm mid-rear-mounted electric motor, Totem’s Alfa Romeo GT electric scorches from 0-100km/h in just 3.4 seconds.
It has three drive modes – natural, dynamic and advanced – along with launch control and a drift mode, and top speed is 245km/h.
Drawing from a liquid-cooled 50kWh lithium-ion battery, the GT electric also has a claimed 360km range.
The low-slung two-door rides on 17-inch alloy wheels shod with 205/40 front and 245/40 rear Continental ContiSportContact tyres. Stopping power comes courtesy of 345x28mm Brembo brake rotors front and rear.
Each car takes about 6000 hours to hand-build, and hidden underneath the wider, more aggressive carbon-fibre body work is a neatly-integrated high-strength steel roll bar.
The four-wheeled Italian EV missile features modern-looking LED headlights and tail-lights, a carbon-fibre front grille and several outward-facing (but hidden) speakers and a subwoofer that will pump out engine noises and vibrations customised by the owner.
In fact, Totem reckons it can tailor a lot of performance parameters, including engine torque and the ‘power band’ which is when peak torque kicks in.
The coachbuilder can set the gear ratios and even the number of gears, claiming further that “we can use a gear lever selector digitally connected to our controller with the same mechanical feeling of a conventional one”.
Inside, the exceedingly expensive sports car blends classic design cues with modern materials to great effect, the twin carbon-fibre seats featuring ribbed leather-upholstered cushions.
The dashboard and steering wheel are a throwback to the original 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA but with just enough attention to detail in the small digital dials to tell you this is a highly engineered model.
Only around 10 per cent of the original Alfa Romeo Giulia car is present and Totem says almost all of the 20 cars it plans to build have been sold.
Deliveries of the retromod are expected to commence by mid-2022, with each costing €430,000 – or around $A700,000.
As interest around restomods and classic reinterpretations like the Volvo P1800 Cyan and the Porsche Project Gold continue to attract interest, expect to see more bespoke creations like the Alfa Romeo GT electric in future.
Keyword: Alfa Romeo Giulia EV restomod priced at $700,000