Porsche Patents New W18 Engine - But Will It Go In A Hypercar Or Something Else?

We've seen everything from a six-stroke engine to a two-piece piston design – and now Porsche is once again venturing into new territory.

CarBuzz recently discovered a patent application filed by Porsche for a W18 engine - yes, 18 cylinders - submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization last year and was published this past week. It doesn’t contain many specific details but offers a clear view of the engine’s design and lists some of its potential benefits. It also leaves plenty of potential on the table for adaptation, meaning this design could be suitable for everything from luxury SUVs to hypercars.

Porsche's W Engine Is Not Like The VW Group's Others
In case you missed it above, this is a W18 engine, meaning more cylinders than any current production engine in existence. But this isn't what makes it so unique. What makes it so different compared to previous W engines from the VW Group is that this one configures the cylinders in an actual W shape.

Engines with W configurations are nothing new, of course. Various Volkswagen Group brands have used them in the past, including Bentley, which for decades had its own W12 engine, and Bugatti, which famously used a W16 engine. Bentley and Bugatti have both since moved away from W-configurations. Bentley replaced its W12 with a V8-based plug-in hybrid system, while Bugatti replaced its W16 with a V16 engine also paired with a hybrid system.

However, all of these earlier designs were essentially two narrow V-engines sharing a common crankshaft, meaning they had four cylinder banks, the central pair of which shared a cylinder head. So while you had three cylinder heads, there were really four cylinder banks. Porsche’s W18, by contrast, has three individual cylinder banks, each containing six cylinders, although Porsche makes provision for different configurations, too, specifically stating. "At this point, it should be mentioned that the internal combustion engine could also have a different number of cylinders." That means it could have four cylinders per bank to become a W12, or three per bank to become a W9. Porsche could even make a W15 with five per bank.

Each bank also has its own intake plenum above, which could integrate a throttle valve, while the exhaust follows a six-into-two-into-one layout.

Porsche Says Design Offers Benefits
One of the key advantages of this design, Porsche says, is the individual intake plenums above each cylinder bank. Instead of drawing air in from the side like most engines, this layout feeds it straight down from the plenum above. The air takes a direct, almost vertical path into the cylinders, reducing turbulence and friction for improved breathing. Shorter intake runners also help keep the air cooler and denser.

Porsche Patent Design For W12 Engine – October 2025
With the exhaust ports placed low on the sides, intake and exhaust heat remain separate, keeping intake air cooler and boosting both power and efficiency. For added performance, Porsche says a single turbocharger could be installed for each cylinder bank, effectively making the engine triple-turbocharged.

There are packaging benefits, too. In the patented W18 form, you get 18 cylinders in something only the length of an inline-6 and the width of a wide-angle V12, but if you opted for a W12, you could get a 12-pot engine in something as long as an inline-four and as wide as a V8. That last configuration sounds particularly appetizing, as we could think of a few applications for such an engine:

• Porsche K1 SUV - Porsche's new halo SUV was meant to be all-electric, but following a recent reversal of strategy, Porsche will now make it combustion (including PHEV) first, and electric later. Such a halo could benefit from a unique engine like a W12 in its bid to rival the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
• Porsche Mission X hypercar - the Mission X was yet another prospect that was meant to be completely electric, but was notably absent from Porsche's announcement on future products. This hypercar might be in the process of a revision, and given its mid-engine proportions, a compact W12 could be just the ticket to it entering production.

Those suggestions are speculation on our part, as Porsche has confirmed no use for this engine so far. Heck, there's not even any guarantee it will enter production, as very often, patent filings are used to protect ideas from use by someone else, and there is no guarantee of any patented technology actually being produced.