Bentley’s iconic 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine is about to leave us forever. The British firm announced that it will no longer invest in engineering and development related to itwhile clarifying that the last car to be equipped with this engine will be the Batur, 18 of which are currently produced by the Mulliner department.

At a time when we’re moving towards electrics, this news isn’t really surprising, especially since an engine of this size consumes and emits a lot, in this case around 311g/km for the Bentley Continental GT Speed, for example.

The history of the WR12 at Volkswagen

The engine that still powers the most powerful Bentleys today is not to be confused with the more classic V12. The acronym W12 does indicate that it does not consist of two rows of six cylinders located one behind the other, but the two V6s are linked together.

This is a unique solution, patented by the Volkswagen Group in the late 1990s and since then offered on the largest cars of various brands. Technically, indeed, the engine is classified as a WR12 and The engines that make it up are two 3.0-liter VR6s.

Volkswagen enthusiasts will surely remember the last abbreviation, which stands for “Verkürzt” and “Reihenmotor”, which translates to “shortened in-line engine” in French.

Indeed, technically the VR6 is a V6 with no space between the two cylinder banks, meaning a shortened inline-six engine designed to be placed transversely in the engine bays of front-wheel drive or non-staggered models.

The last W12 in history

The W12 Bentley is the latest evolution of this iconic architecture, which has been used in several generations of cars over a 20-year career, such as the Audi A8, Volkswagen Phaeton W12, Touareg W12 and, of course, the Bentley Continental. GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga.

As mentioned above, Bentley recently announced that from 2024 it will no longer equip its cars with the W12. As such, the last model to feature it will be the Batur, a car produced in just 18 units priced at €2 million each. The model is developing no less 740 hp.

It should also be remembered that this W12 powered other cars from the Volkswagen group, starting with the Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker, a spectacular 650 hp car that was introduced in the 2000s.