Bentley is ditching its iconic 12-cylinder engine to go electric

Purists who love beautiful mechanics will probably regret it. British luxury car manufacturer Bentley has announced it will be phasing out its iconic 12-cylinder petrol engine in April 2024, which will remain the most powerful engine in its class ever at 750 horsepower.

Like many automakers, including luxury brands, Bentley has set itself the goal of seeing the first all-electric cars in its UK factory in 2025 and has committed to clean up its internal combustion model catalog by 2030.

“When production stops, more than 100,000 examples of the iconic W12 engine will be handcrafted at the Dream Factory in Crewe, England since its launch in 2003,” the company, part of the Volkswagen Group, said in a statement.

Record year in 2022

With this announcement, Bentley, which, like other luxury car brands, endured a record-breaking 2022 with 15,174 vehicles sold, up 4% on the previous year, is thus truly embarking on this shift in electrification.

The first step will be to transform the plant to adapt to these new requirements. The brand’s goal is to develop its historic facility, which employs 4,000 people across the entire production chain, as “a new benchmark in sustainable luxury car manufacturing.”

“Our ongoing journey towards sustainable luxury mobility includes changes across all areas of Bentley Motors. When we launched the W12 in 2003, we knew we had a powerful engine that would propel our cars and brand forward at high speeds. Twenty years later and over 100,000 W12 engines, it’s time to retire this now iconic powertrain as we move towards electrification, but not without saying goodbye to the best engine ever made,” said Chairman and CEO Bentley Adrian Hallmark. .

Still, to buy one of the last examples of this W12 engine installed on the Bentley Mulliner Batur, which should be produced in the amount of 18 units for deliveries in mid-2023, a tidy sum of 1.96 million euros will be required! And again, all copies are already reserved …