Porsche has applied for a patent for a new W12 engine being developed that uses a unique configuration. The Volkswagen Group is of course no stranger to strangely configured W12 engines. The iconic Bentley 6.0-liter W12 ended production earlier this year after decades of serving smiles. While that W12 was created by combining two Volkswagen narrow-angle VR6 engines on the crankshaft, Porsche’s new design features three cylinder banks.
Based on the patent drawings in the filing, Porsche’s engine looks more like the letter “W” than the old VR6-based design, which had four cylinder banks. Carscopes reports that the filing doesn’t contain many details, and what is discussed is highly technical, but the gist is that Porsche believes this new design will reduce friction loss and allow for more flexible packaging due to its size.
What does Porsche do when designing a W12?
What follows is speculation, as Porsche has not publicly discussed the existence of this engine to our knowledge, and especially not which car it will one day power. The first thing to consider, however, is how powerful it could be.
Consider the earlier W12, which was supported by a pair of turbochargers for much of its life. When it was first launched in the Bentley Continental GT in 2003, it produced 552 hp and 479 Nm of torque. That power rose steadily over the next twenty years, reaching its peak in Mulliner’s Bentley Batur, where it produced 740 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque.
Porsche’s W12 engine design should be able to produce significantly more power. Since each of the three cylinder banks has their own intake and exhaust ports, the engine could theoretically easily accept a trio of turbochargers or superchargers.
Curiously, Porsche mentions in the patent that all this new technology could be used in engines with fewer cylinders. Furthermore, just because Porsche filed the patent doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the brand to use this engine. Bugatti is also a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, and while it already has a spectacular naturally aspirated V16 engine for the new Tourbillon, it could come up with something else that could use this engine.
TopSpeed’s opinion
Can we get a round of applause for Volkswagen’s VR6 engine? While researching this article, we realized how technically impressive and influential this engine was during its lifetime. The ultra-narrow angle design allowed Volkswagen to fit six cylinders with power in places originally designed for four. The Golf, Jetta and Corrado all benefited from the neat packaging and productive power of the VR6 engine.
Then the luxury car makers got their hands on the VR6. Bentley connected two of them to the crankshaft and thus created its legendary W12. Bugatti, meanwhile, added two cylinders to create what was essentially a VR8 engine, then linked two together to create a W16 engine. With four turbochargers, Bugatti’s version produced more than 1,000 horsepower when it was first launched in the Veyron and was most powerful in the Bolide, where it produced up to 1,825 horsepower and 1,364 pound-feet of torque.
We could praise the VR6 all day long, but credit also goes to the engineers at the Volkswagen Group. These crafty tinkerers created some of the most interesting engines of the past thirty years, engines that have powered everything from the cheapest car to 250mph hypercars. Since the engines in these two cars share a common architecture, you have to give the VR6 its due.
Source: Carscopes
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