VIENNA -- Volkswagen Group's next-generation W-12 engine will combine direct-injection technology and turbocharging, a VW powertrain executive says.
Friedrich Eichler, Volkswagen brand's head of powertrain development, released details of the W-12 TSI last month at an engine symposium here. He said the new 12-cylinder will be used with the VW Group's MLB platform for bigger vehicles with longitudinally mounted engines and the upcoming MSB platform that generally underpins rear-wheel-drive sports cars and luxury sedans.
The current Audi A8's naturally aspirated 6.3-liter W-12 has direct injection. Bentley's W-12s are turbocharged. The combination of direct injection and turbocharging is new in the 12-cylinder.
The W-12 TSI engine will be used first in the MLB-based Bentley Bentayga crossover, due in 2016. The W-12 also will power the next-generation Audi A8 and Volkswagen Phaeton, as well as successors to Bentley's Continental and Flying Spur.
It also could be fitted in the Audi Q7 that arrives in the U.S. this year as a 2016 model. A W-12 version could come in two or three years. VW also says the engine is track-ready, hinting at use in sports cars.
The W-12 TSI engine is rated at 600 hp at 6,000 rpm, and produces 664 pounds-feet (900 Newton meters) of torque. It uses Bosch-Mahle turbochargers, and comes with cylinder deactivation.
Volkswagen says the engine will get more power in the future. In sedans such as the A8 and Phaeton, it will be rated at 22 U.S. mpg (11 liters per 100km) combined, in the European cycle. That's an improvement of almost 30 percent from the current W-12, which debuted in the first-generation Phaeton in 2002.
