Bentley to axe 12-cylinder engine earlier than expected

Bentley has announced the W12 engine will end production in 2024 – amid tightening emissions regulations and a switch to hybrid and electric cars – two years earlier than previously anticipated.

The engine has a little more than a year left as part of the line-up, with Bentley to build the last 12-cylinder in April 2024, before the production line switches to making V6 hybrid and V8 engines.

By the time the W12 reaches its 20th anniversary this year, Bentley estimates it will have built more than 105,000 since it launched the engine in the revived Continental GT coupe of 2003.

Over those two decades, it claims to have improved power by 37 per cent and torque by 54 per cent, while emissions have been reduced by 25 per cent.

However, the W12 wasn't exclusive to Bentley – with the engine making its public debut in the Volkswagen W12 concept car in 1997, before being offered in the Audi A8, Volkswagen Phaeton, and Volkswagen Touareg.

MORE: Bentley to go fully-electric by 2030

Before the W12 goes, Bentley has promised the limited-edition Batur will receive the most powerful version of the W12 ever, producing 552kW and 1000Nm.

“Our W12 engine is easily the most successful twelve-cylinder automotive engine in history, and as it approaches its retirement to make way for future hybrids and [electric cars], we want to mark its accomplishments,” chairman of Bentley Motors, Adrian Hallmark, said in a media statement in August 2022.

The unusual 'W' configuration – which is little more than two V6 engines joined together, with four rows of three cylinders – meant the overall length of the W12 was 24 per cent shorter than the equivalent V12 (which has two banks of six cylinders).

This means the W12 engine can fit under a shorter bonnet than a V12, "benefitting packaging and maximising usable cabin space", according to Bentley.

Bentley had previously made a number of statements on-the-record confirming the W12 would be phased out by 2026 – the same year the British luxury marque is expected to launch its first electric model.

The goalposts appear to be continually moving, with Bentley board member Rolf Frech telling Drive in 2017 there was a chance the W12 could live on in an electric era. However, the company's 'Beyond100' roadmap now means its entire range will be battery powered by 2030.