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Bentley W12 engine production will officially end in April 2024

We knew the Bentley W12 engine had an expiration date before, but it’s going to come up even quicker than expected. Revealed today, Bentley says the last W12 engine it produces will be in April 2024. ThatÂ’s only one year and a couple of months away! Previously, Bentley made it clear that it would only sell PHEVs and EVs by 2026, implying the W12 was done for. It wonÂ’t last long enough to bump into that 2026 limit now that the 2024 production end is set. By the time its end date rolls around, Bentley will have made over 105,000 W12 engines since the 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged unit was introduced for 2003. Each of those engines was hand-built by a team of craftspeople — Bentley says each engine takes approximately 6.5 hours to complete. Which Bentley models are going to be made available with these final W12s, you ask? The real celebration for Bentley is happening with the Batur, a small run of Mulliner coach-built coupes based on the Continental GT. Final validation just wrapped up for the Batur version of the W12, and itÂ’s the most powerful yet at 740 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. Versus the W12 found in other Bentley models, the Batur features reworked intake, exhaust and cooling systems along with a revised engine calibration. Unfortunately, all 18 Baturs (pic below) are already spoken for. If you still want a W12, Bentley says it has limited order slots left for the Continental GT Speed, Bentayga Speed and Flying Spur Speed. Additionally, Bentley will allow you to spec it in either the Continental GT Mulliner or Flying Spur Mulliner. No other new Bentley orders will be W12-compatible between now and production completion. The company warns that there are only a limited number of build slots left, so anyone still on the fence should act quickly if they want the W12.  Over the years, Bentley says the W12 has seen a 37% increase in power, 54% increase in torque and 25% reduction in emissions. The biggest changes came in 2015 when Bentley redesigned the engine “from the sump up” for the launch of the Bentayga SUV. As of today, there are 30 people involved in the engine assembly process. Bentley says it aims to retrain and redeploy all 30 into different positions once W12 production ceases Related video: 2024 Maserati GranTurismo walkaround

Behold my hideous Bentley!

Do you all just love my hideous Bentley? It's so insane and tacky. I'm sure if I were to actually order this a British lord somewhere would dispatch his valet to slap me.  Who knows where I'll figuratively be in two weeks' time, but today turns out to be the day I turned to see just how tacky certain car configurators will let you get. Admittedly, they're almost all high-dollar, extra-low-volume cars. If you try to play around on a Honda configurator, you'll have wrapped things up in about 30 seconds.  But Bentley, now that's a company that'll let you get tacky on its configurator. I chose the new Continental GT Convertible because the lowered roof would make it easy to demonstrate in pictures the level of my tackiness. From there, it was this eye-searing Apple Green, though I was certainly tempted by Azure Purple and Magenta. Roof choice? I was expecting there to be more, nevertheless, Claret red seemed like a suitably awful pairing.  Inside, well, let's crack those knuckles and get to work. Luckily, Bentley lets you choose two different leather colors: Main and Secondary "hides" with five choices of how to split those colors. Sorry, colours. I chose Colour Split B cause it seemed to have the most of each colour. For the Main Hide, I went with Hotspur, an extremely red shade of red that would be home in an early 2000s BMW. Cumbrian Green and Damson purple were tempting, but they just weren't bright enough, and I thought they wouldn't pair poorly enough with the Secondary Hide: Newmarket Tan, which is pretty damn orange. You can't see it, but the interior of the roof is Blue. For the veneer, I went with Tamo Ash, 'cause yuck. Finally, throw on some black wheels, and voila, my tacky Bentley. I must say, this is most definitely tackier than the real Bentley Flying Spur I once tested that looked like South Beach threw up inside. So much white and teal. Oh, and that ash wood. A Bentley rep told me they ordered it by mistake.  Now, Bentley isn't the only high-dollar outfit that lets you indulge in such tacky fantasies. Most other British brands do, including Mini, and the Germans offer plenty of color choices as well, usually through some special custom program like Audi Exclusive. Porsche makes it especially easy, though, which you can see in my other craptacular creation below.

The next Bentley Mulsanne could go all-electric

How many Bentleys are sold in China, anyway?* That's a question worth asking after the company said it will consider switching the powertrain of its uber-luxe sedan Mulsanne to all-electric from its current gas-guzzling V8 setup. Such a switch would be in the name of adhering to stricter greenhouse-gas emissions limits, especially in countries like China. Bentley executive Hans Holzgartner told Autocar that the company may soon have problems selling a V8-powered Mulsanne in China because government regulators are attempting to push for more zero-emissions vehicles to combat smog problems in the country's largest cities. Oddly, Holzgartner said an electric powertrain is "better suited" to heavier luxury cars than lighter sports cars because of an electric motor's smooth, instant delivery of torque. With the Mulsanne already priced north of $300,000 in the US, passing on the costs of such a huge battery pack will probably be less of an issue than for more typically-priced models. Of course, there would be a ton (almost literally) of battery cells involved. The Mulsanne tips the scales at almost 6,000 pounds, or almost twice the weight of a Nissan Leaf and about 25 percent more than a Tesla Model S. For those curious how the one-percenters live, take a look at Autoblog's recent drive of a Mulsanne Speed. Since this is just being studied at this point, it's possible the next Mulsanne could get a battery-electric or plug-in hybrid version for certain markets, while others would retain a gas engine or offer a choice. Assuming it keeps the gas option, the next Mulsanne will reportedly to switch to a twelve-cylinder engine, likely a version of the Volkswagen Group's W12. As for green cred, let's just say the Mulsanne's couldn't be much worse. Earlier this year, the Mulsanne showed up on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) annual list of "meanest" vehicles when it came to environmental sustainability. The Bentley was rated the fourth-meanest vehicle sold in the US, following the Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG, the Chevrolet G2500 Express/GMC Savana, and the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG. The EPA rates the Mulsanne's fuel efficiency at an absolutely gasoline-swilling 13 miles per gallon combined. * If you're curious, Bentley sold 1,615 cars in China last year. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Bentley Mulsanne: First Drive View 24 Photos News Source: Autocar via Hybrid CarsImage Credit: Drew Phillips Green Bentley Electric