Bentley has built its last W12 engine after 20 years in service, and the new Flying Spur Speed is getting the new V8 Hybrid.
We knew the end was coming when Bentley announced a year or more ago that a trio of special Speed Edition models – Bentley Bentayga, Flying Spur, Continental GT and GTC ‘Speed Edition 12’ – arrived to celebrate the W12 ahead of its demise this year.
Although many considered the V8 the best engine from a driver’s perspective, there was never anything that compared to the W12, with more than 100,000 built in the 20 years since it arrived, it almost feels like a ‘Concorde’ moment as more than a century of ICE innovation is dumped on the alter of electrification.
The ongoing development of the W12 shows how much an engine can be improved over time, with the original W12 producing 552bhp and 479lb/ft of torque and now delivering 740bhp and 738lb/ft of torque in the Batur, which adds up to a 34% increase in power, 54% increase in torque and reduction of 25% in emissions.
Dr. Matthias Rabe, Member of the Board for R&D at Bentley Motors, said:
The W12 has propelled our cars and business forward at an exceptional speed and will go down as one of the most important innovations in our illustrious history. Today marks the end of a development journey that our R&D and manufacturing colleagues over the years should be extremely proud of. Not least in the conceptualisation, but also the continued progress with regards to power and performance optimisation, while at the same time improving both emissions and refinement.
Despite Bentley’s current commitment to go all-electric (we’ll see) ICE is not dead, but continues in the new Bentley Continental GT Speed where a V8 is mated to an electric motor to produce 771bhp, an engine Bentley has now confirmed for the new Bentley Flying Spur Speed when it arrives later this year.
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