An Alfa restomod shop is becoming a carmaker, and its first car has a manual V12
Everyone is going turbocharged, automatic and electric. This tiny Italian firm heard that and reached for a manual V12
Totem Automobili has spent years turning classic Alfa Romeo coupes into jewel-like restomods. Now it wants to be a proper carmaker in its own right, and the way it is announcing that ambition is gloriously stubborn. Its first bespoke platform, revealed at Monterey Car Week, is built around a naturally aspirated V12 and a six-speed manual gearbox. In 2026, that is almost an act of rebellion.
From modifying Alfas to building its own
This is a genuine leap for Totem. Until now the company built its cars on donor Alfa Romeos, most famously reimagined Giulia GT coupes in electric and twin-turbo V6 forms. The new Tiziano platform changes the story entirely: it is Totem's first ground-up architecture, designed and engineered in-house, and it marks the moment a respected restomodder decides it wants to make Italian sports cars that collectors chase in their own right.
The engineering underneath
The Tiziano is serious kit. At its core is a carbon-fibre monocoque with aluminium front and rear subframes and a modular upper structure that lets Totem build open or closed bodies without touching the core. Suspension is double wishbones all round with a pushrod and rocker setup, electronically controlled dampers and lightweight aluminium components, while braking comes from Brembo, six-piston front and four-piston rear, with carbon-ceramics available. The headline, though, is the powertrain: a naturally aspirated V12 developed by Italtecnica, driving through a six-speed manual with a limited-slip differential and a hydraulically operated twin-plate clutch. No turbos, no paddles, no apology.
Three cars, one platform
Totem plans a family of three, badged the T12 series. The T12 Corsa is the hardcore, track-focused version with exposed mechanicals, the T12 Lunga takes longer, more aerodynamic proportions, and the T12 Turismo is the elegant, road-biased grand tourer. The platform is flexible enough to also accept a twin-turbo V6 or a fully electric powertrain later, so the V12 is the halo rather than the only option. A running chassis is due to be shown in 2027.
AutoNext Take
There is something wonderful about a small company answering the electric, automatic future with a naturally aspirated twelve and a stick shift. This is a car built purely for the love of driving, aimed at collectors who want involvement rather than lap times set by software, and Totem has the restomod craftsmanship to make it feel special rather than like a kit-car fantasy. Going from modifying other people's cars to engineering your own carbon platform is a huge, expensive step, and doing it around the least fashionable powertrain on earth takes real conviction.
The caution is obvious. Plenty of ambitious boutique supercars are revealed as platforms and renders and never reach a customer's driveway, and Totem has so far shared no power figure, price or production number, only a promise of a running chassis in 2027. But the intent is exactly the kind of thing the car world needs more of. If even half of this reaches production as described, the Tiziano could become a small, defiant monument to everything the mainstream industry is walking away from. We would very much like to hear it run.
