Bentley W12 production finally ends

The last ever Bentley W12 engine has rolled off the production line in Crewe as the British luxury brand transitions to selling only plug-in hybrid vehicles from 2026 and just battery-electric vehicles from 2030.

More than 100,000 examples of Bentley’s lusty twin-turbo 6.0-litre W12 have been produced over the past 21 years – since the current Continental GT’s market introduction in 2003 – with various outputs in the Conti GT and GTC two-doors, and the Flying Spur sedan (since 2005), Bentayga SUV (since 2015) and the Batur and Bacalar limited-editions.

The Bentley W12 peaked at 544kW/1000Nm under the bonnet of the Batur – a bespoke convertible spin-off of the 485kW/900Nm Continental GT Speed.

“The W12 has played such an important role in the history of Bentley,” said Bentley Motors board member for manufacturing Andreas Lehe.

“The engine’s introduction helped change the face of the company almost overnight and so will go down in history as a true game changer and we should feel very proud to have designed, developed and manufactured such an icon in Britain for such a long period of time.”

The big 5998cc (366 cubic-inch) DOHC 48-valve donk will be directly replaced by a new Volkswagen Group-sourced twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 plug-in hybrid system good for up to 575kW/1000Nm in its current form and no doubt more in the future.

Originally created by the VW Group by essentially joining two narrow-angle VR6 engine blocks on a single crankshaft to form two rows of six staggered cylinders, the world’s only mass-production W12 was first revealed in the mid-engined 2001 Volkswagen W12 concept that set a 24-hour world endurance record.

Its first production application – in naturally-aspirated form – was in the original Audi A8 limousine in 2001, followed by the 2004-2011 Volkswagen Phaeton W12 limo and the 2005-2010 Volkswagen Touareg W12 SUV, and it also powered two low-volume Spyker C12 sports cars over 2006-2008.

A commemorative lunch was held this week for the W12 assembly and R&D teams, hosted at the Bentley’s Heritage Garage in Crewe, where assembly staff were each presented with a piston from the lauded powerplant to “cherish the moment” and keep as a souvenir.

Said staff are now being redeployed throughout the business to help further the development and production of Bentley’s new ‘Ultra High Performance Hybrid’ system.

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