Volkswagen’s solution was to allow Bentley to create a thoroughly modern Bentley, loosening its corporate purse strings for an up-to-date interpretation of what a Bentley should be. And that, the new Bentley designers determined, should pay homage to founder W.O. Bentley and the powerful, brutish British cars that raced at Le Mans before the Rolls-Royce era.

And so the Bentley Continental GT.

The goal for Bentley’s designers and engineers was to create the world’s fastest four-place coupe. To that end they raided the VW-Audi parts bin, borrowing Volkswagen narrow-angle V-6 technology. Two V-6’s were joined at the crankshaft at an angle wider than that of the V-6s’. For lack of a better term, Bentley calls this a “W12,” noting that, at little more length than a V-6, it’s the world’s most compact twelve-cylinder engine .
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