W12 engine

A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine in which either three banks of four cylinders, or four banks of three cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft. W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used in several aircraft engines from 1917 until the 1930s. A three-bank design was also used for an unsuccessful W12 engine that was intended to compete in Formula One in 1990. W12 engines are less common than V12 engines and only a handful of automobile manufacturers use them. The WR12 engine was produced by the Volkswagen Group between 2001 and 2024. This four-bank engine – based on two VR6 engines with a common crankshaft – has been used only in flagship high performance car models produced by the Volkswagen Group and by Spyker.