Bentley to phase out 12-cylinder engine by April 2024

British ultra-luxury automaker Bentley on Wednesday announced to end the production of the W-12 engine at its factory in the United Kingdom in April 2024. The company’s this decision comes as part of its acceleration towards a sustainable future, where it plans to fully electrify its entire model line by the start of the next decade.

Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO of Bentley, in a statement, said, “The time has come to retire this now-iconic powertrain as we take strides toward electrification.”

The automaker also announced that it will unveil its most powerful W12 engine to date. Bentley said, that the milestone would be celebrated with the most powerful version of the W12 engine ever created, with 740 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque.

The company further added that the upgraded engine would only be offered in 18 units of its two-seat performance car Bentley Baturs, which costs around $2 million. The vehicles are already sold, the automaker said.

The end of the W12 engine is the latest example of automakers shifting towards all-electric vehicles. In 2022, Bentley announced it would spend 2.5 billion pounds (about $3 billion) to become a fully electric luxury brand by 2030.

The Volkswagen-owned company added that it still has a limited number of W12 engines available for versions of the Continental GT, Bentayga and Flying Spur. Bentley said it will retrain all 30 of its craftspeople and assign them to its carbon-neutral factory in England.

According to the company, each of its W12 engines was hand-built over 6.5 hours and one engine is run over an extended test cycle and then fully stripped for inspection every week. Also, the W-configuration in the engine suggests that the engine is 24 percent shorter than an equivalent V12, which helps in packaging and maximising usable cabin space.

According to the company, the production of the W12 engine will be replaced with the expanded assembly of V8 and V6 hybrid engines. Bentley claims to have manufactured more than 100,000 of the W12 engines since the assembly began in 2003.