Totem Automobili, the Italian firm best known for its extensively reengineered interpretations of the classic Alfa Romeo Giulia GT, has revealed the foundation for what comes next. Called Tiziano, the new proprietary modular architecture moves Totem beyond remastering existing automobiles and toward building its own cars from the ground up.
Tiziano is based around a carbon-fibre monocoque with dedicated mechanical systems and an architecture designed to give Totem considerable freedom in body design and vehicle configuration. The company describes it as a clean-sheet platform and the basis for its evolution into what it calls an “Italian Boutique Manufacturer.” Unlike Totem’s existing Alfa Romeo-based creations, Tiziano is not presented as an adaptation of an existing production-car structure.
The first vehicles based on the architecture will form the T12 Series, with three versions named Corsa, Lunga and Turismo. Totem says all three will share the same technical core while being “radically different automobiles.” Each is planned around a naturally aspirated V12 paired with a six-speed manual transmission, with racing-derived engineering and an emphasis on mechanical driver involvement.
For now, Totem has stopped short of revealing what the three cars will actually look like or precisely what form each will take. That makes Tiziano as much a preview of Totem’s intentions as it is a technical announcement. The carbon monocoque, naturally aspirated V12 and manual transmission establish some significant parameters, but Corsa, Lunga and Turismo remain largely undefined. What is clear is that Totem’s next project will no longer begin with an Alfa Romeo: Tiziano gives the company the architecture to begin with a blank sheet of paper.
