It seems that electrified restomod cars are extremely divisive , dangerous terrain. Old internal combustion engine car enthusiasts have a real sense of sacrilege about the electrification of an iconic model like the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT.
But they have to realise that there is a group of buyers who are no longer interested in horsepower, the smell of exhaust gas, the sound of the accelerator, the squeal of the wheels and torque. They are left cold by the maximum power of the cylinder heads, they don’t start their engines after inhaling the smell of petrol.

For them, it’s infotainment, a massage from the app. They don’t mind the increasing distance between man and machine. They are open to new technologies, they feel a sense of responsibility towards the environment, but they like the old classic forms and nostalgia for their memories. They also like to give in to their cinematic and comic impressions.
The GT electric has 518 horsepower and its outstanding performance beats its predecessor, the original Alfa Romeo Giulia GT, which had only 192 horsepower. It also beats the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. It’s now just a hair’s breadth away from the Alfa GTA in the speed stakes.
The Totem company started the work by taking a 1970s Alfa Romeo GT Junior 1300/1600 , tuning and stiffening the chassis by hand to prevent the new 518 horsepower from damaging it. If the chassis wasn’t properly structured, the whole thing would collapse.
They say only 10 per cent of the original chassis remains, while at the front is a new MacPherson suspension with manually adjustable Bilstein shock absorbers, and at the rear is an aluminium multilink setup (again with Bilsteins) connected to a new rear subframe.

More generally, it is worth noting that the Alfa Romeo Giulia made its debut at the famous Monza race track on 27 June 1962, indicating that the model was intended as a sports saloon. Indeed, don’t be fooled by the angular shape, Alfa Romeo was one of the first to build a high-performance engine – at least by the standards of the time – into a relatively light car. This was deliberate, as even in the 1960s there was a fan base of enthusiasts who were passionate about Alfa Romeo’s sagas. Sporting successes played no small part in this, of course, but the design and the truly sporting driving experience that the brand’s products provided were also a major contributory factor.

Ádám Gubán