Bentley completes the last W-12 engine

Bentley celebrated the completion of its last W-12 engine at its Crewe, England plant on Tuesday.

The last engine is also the most powerful. The engine, rated at 740 hp, will be used in Bentley's limited edition Baturs, a coachbuilt special commemorating the W-12 and heralding the design theme of Bentley's first electric car, due in 2026. also unveiled a special edition of the Speed 12 last year to commemorate the engine's run.

The twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter engine debuted in the original Continental GT and has been updated over the years, sometimes for other Volkswagen Group brands.

More than 100,000 units were built, making the W-12 the most successful 12-cylinder engine of the modern era, according to Bentley; the W layout effectively puts two V-6s on a common crank, making the engine about 25% shorter than a conventional V-12, packaging characteristics have been improved. Bugatti, another VW Group brand, uses the same layout for the W-16 engine that powers its hypercars Veyron and Chiron.

Bentley already announced plans to discontinue this engine last year. Along with the V-6 and V-8 engines used by Bentley, the W-12 engine has always been on borrowed time. Bentley has publicly stated that it will move to a fully electric vehicle route in 10 years.

Bentley assembled a team of 30 people to build the engine, which took about 6.5 hours to complete each unit. Over the years, for each new development, which saw a 34% increase in power output from the first iteration to the last, Bentley ran the engine at full throttle for 100 hours and repeated the process three more times for durability testing. According to the automaker, this simulated driving 20,000 miles at 200 mph. In another test, the engine reached redline 100 times within 30 seconds of starting in ambient temperatures of 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

The engine's successor is a V-8 plug-in hybrid powertrain, which in June debuted in the Continental GT Speed It debuted in an updated model. This powertrain, rated at 771 hp, will also be used in the updated Flying Spur Speed. Although not yet confirmed, it is likely that a lower-powered version will eventually find its way into other models in Bentley's lineup.