In February 2023, Bentley officially announced that it is abandoning the W12 engine, which powers more than 105,000 Bentleys. The last example of this powerful hand-assembled engine was displayed at Bentley headquarters a few days ago.
It all started 21 years ago when the Continental GT Coupé was revealed, and with it a 6.0L turbo W12 engine. “When we first launched the W12 back in 2003, we knew we had a powerful engine that would propel both our cars and brand forwards 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 towards electrification – but not without giving it the best send-off possible with the most powerful version of the engine ever created,” said Bentley chairman Adrian Hallmark.
All this time, the W12 engine was significantly more compact and lighter than the classic V12 engine. Now its place will be taken by a 4.0L V8 biturbo engine assisted by a hybrid system with 790 hp (589 kW) and 737 lb-ft (1,000 Nm) of torque.
The last Bentley that had the honor of being powered by this engine was the Bentley Batur, thus ending the period in the production of powerful engines. Only 16 examples of this model were produced, and all of them were sold in a short time at a price of 2 million dollars.
Source: Bentley
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