Bentley to unveil its most powerful W12 car yet, and the automaker says it may not be the last one

The Bentley W12 is an icon.

The automaker has thought about killing this powertrain on more than one occasion, chiefly due to emission rules, but it’s clear that they can’t bring themselves to do it… yet.

The manufacturer said a new coachbuilt W12 Mulliner car is on its way, and it’s possible this won’t be the last one either.

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The W12 was first launched in 2003.

Since then, Bentley has used it to power a swathe of cars, from the Continental GT to the Flying Spur.

More than 105,000 examples of the W12 have been built since 2003, making it the most widely used 12-cylinder engine of the modern era.

Over the years, they’ve unveiled a bunch of W12 cars and, in recent times, they all came with a disclaimer.

‘This might be our last W12’ – that was the gist.

To celebrate this unique engine, the British automaker unveiled two spectacular limited-edition, coachbuilt vehicles developed by its in-house coachbuilder, Mulliner.

The first one was called the Bacalar, and the second one was the Batur.

When Bentley unveiled the Batur, about a year ago, the company said this would serve as a swan song for the W12.

But they clearly changed their mind as the upcoming Bentley Mulliner will also use it, and there’s more good news.

First, the new car will be the most powerful Bentley W12 ever made, which means it’ll deliver over 740 horsepower.

Secondly, and perhaps more to the point, Bentley said this will be ‘among the last ever Bentleys’ that use this engine.

So that means we can maybe expect at least one more.

Visually, it’ll progress the design language introduced with the Batur, with a similar rear lighting set-up and a sloping ducktail spoiler.

Production will be limited to 16 units.

We’ll learn more on May 7, when the public unveil is scheduled.