The End is Coming To Bentley's Iconic V8

Bentley CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer told Car and Driver the Mulsanne will be the last vehicle to be powered by this engine. The next-generation flagship sedan will use a twelve-cylinder engine of some kind. But it will be a long time before this happen as the British luxury automaker updated the Mulsanne earlier this year.

A History Lesson

The 6.75L V8 can trace its roots back to 1959 where it was fitted in the Bentley S2 and Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II. Known as the L-Series, the V8 engine displaced 6.2L and featured dual carburetors. The engine was said to produce around 197 horsepower. Over the years, the engine was improved with redesigns to strengthen the bottom end, fuel injection, turbocharging, and cylinder deactivation.

The L-Series was killed off by BMW when it replaced the engine with a BMW-derived 4.4L V8 in the late ninties. But when Volkswagen bought Bentley in 1998, the L-Series engine returned under the Arnage Red Label model, while the BMW V8 was offered in the Green Label model. The Green Label sold so poorly, that Volkswagen discarded the BMW engine. Since then, the L-Series has powered the Arnage and it's replacement, the Mulsanne.

Pic Credit: Bentley