Hey hey, Bentley is finally stopping with this drinking boat of a W12!
Oh wait… If you write for Autovisie.nl, you obviously need to know the target audience. So let’s start from the beginning, with a completely different headline. “Oh my god, Bentley left that glorious W12 way too soon!”
Because that’s what the British luxury manufacturer announced today. The limited Batur is the last stop for the double-charged W12 engine. After that, no new twelve-cylinder model will be introduced.
Bentley relies on electrification
Do we need to explain why? Probably not. Bentley also has to think of the polar bears and relies on electrification. A hybrid version of each model will be available next year and the first all-electric Bentley will debut in 2025.
Last hurrah in the limited Batur
But before that, the well-known W12 engine of the brand experiences its course last hooray in the limited Batur, of which only eighteen examples will be built.
In the Batur, the 6.0-liter engine delivers no less than 750 hp and 1000 Nm of torque. And that makes the almost 2 million euro coupé the most powerful twelve-cylinder Bentley of all time.
Introduced in 2003 in the Continental GT
The twin-turbo W12 was introduced in 2003 in the then-new Continental GT. Bentley proudly reports that in 20 years the engine has gained 37 percent more power and 54 percent more torque.
Amusing is the claim that CO2 emissions have fallen by 25 percent in that time. This is undoubtedly true, but of course an emission of 304 g/km with a consumption of 1 to 7.5 is still not good.
Twin turbo W12 handcrafted
And that’s why the lockdown is ending. The engines are hand built by a team of 30 specialists. Bentley reports that they are all being retrained for a new job.
It takes 6.5 hours to produce a W12, after which the power source is tested for an hour. A twelve-cylinder is taken off the assembly line every week to undergo a full test cycle. Then it is stripped off for an inspection.
Since 2003, Bentley has built more than 105,000 W12s. In 2015, the Bentayga received an almost completely new version of the engine, equipped with cylinder deactivation to reduce excessive fuel consumption.