Bentley has revealed the nature of the flagship powertrain that is to take over from the W12, which is to bow out this year. It is as expected of a downsized and hybridised nature but power, performance and refinement are of the utmost importance to the British luxury marque, with the powertrain getting the Ultra Performance Hybrid monicker.
Hybrid 750PS V8 to replace Bentley’s W12
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Sounding very similar to the powertrain recently announced for the updated 2025 Lamborghini Urus SE, Bentley is in the process of developing a hybridised turbocharged V8 engine, producing ‘more than 750PS’. This will be at least a 91PS bump on the most powerful series production W12s found in the Speed variants of the Flying Spur and GT. In spite of this, emissions will be way down, to under 50 g/km on the WLTP drive cycle. Electric-only range has also been confirmed as being 50 miles.
It’s not been made clear whether the V8 is a derivation of the 4.0-litre mill found across the current Bentley range. However images of the Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain as well as the eight-cylinder ICE element show a very similar engine, complete with hot-V twin turbos and four cams. We can also see that elements of the high-voltage hybridity are connected to it, with stand-out high voltage cabling attached to the side of the engine.
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This powertrain is expected to see use across the Bentley range, in anything that did use the W12. So that’s both the Continentals, the Flying Spur and the Bentayga. Exactly what the limits of the powertrains potency are, in terms of facilitating higher-powered Speed models, remains to be seen. We’re expecting 800PS+ top-drawer hybrid Bentleys to be available before too long. As for when these hybrids will debut? We wouldn’t be surprised if the Continental facelifts debuted before the end of the year.
