The W12 engine is among the most unconventional powerplants in current automotive historical past. Essentially two narrow-angle V6s merged collectively on the crankcase, it makes it doable to suit 12-cylinder energy in an area not a lot larger than you’d want for a V6. The W-configuration engine is a signature Volkswagen Group innovation, having appeared in 8-, 12-, and 16-cylinder varieties all through VW Group’s many manufacturers. Now, Bentley is asserting that it will finish W12 manufacturing in April 2024, capping off an period that started in 2003 with the model’s first 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12.
Bentley stated in a press launch that, when the ultimate W12 rolls off the meeting line subsequent yr, the corporate can have constructed greater than 100,000 examples of the compact 12-cylinder engine. The British automaker additionally claims that, within the almost 20 years because it started producing W12s, it has improved the engine’s horsepower output by 37 %, torque by 54 %, and lowered emissions by 25 %.
But there’s no room in Bentley’s “Beyond100″ sustainability strategy for a honking 12-cylinder. The company hopes to have its entire lineup “fully electrified by the start of the next decade,” said today’s press release, reducing fleet average emissions to zero grams of CO2 per mile. “Electrified,” in this case, means hybrids to start, the W12 being replaced with V8s, plug-in hybrid V6s, and eventually, full EVs. Bentley is the last automaker in the VW Group portfolio to use the W12, so this is well and truly the end of the line for this engine.
Of course, the beefy W12 won’t go out without a celebration. Bentley previously announced the ultra-limited-edition Batur, a hyper-expensive machine powered by the company’s most powerful W12 yet, cranking out 740 horsepower and 737 lb-ft of torque. Just 18 examples of the Batur will be built, and as is usually the case with cars like this, they’re all sold out already — which no doubt contributed to Bentley having its best year ever in 2022.
“Our progressive journey towards sustainable luxury mobility means making changes to every area of Bentley Motors,” the automaker’s chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark said in a statement. “When we first launched the W12 back in 2003, we knew we had a mighty engine that would propel both our cars and the brand forward at speed. Twenty years and more than 100,000 W12s later, the time has come to retire this now-iconic powertrain as we take strides toward electrification — but not without giving it the best sendoff possible, with the most powerful version of the engine ever created.”
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While it’s in all probability too late so that you can get your palms on a Batur, W12 followers worry not: Bentley will nonetheless supply a restricted variety of 649-hp W12 engines within the Speed variants of the Continental GT, Bentayga and Flying Spur. “Demand for these final W12-powered Speed and Mulliner models is expected to be high,” Bentley cheekily states in a press launch, “and customers eager to secure one of the last ever 12-cylinder Bentleys should contact their retailer with equal speed.”
Source: jalopnik.com