Dirty Dozen: BMW Announces Final V12 Engine

Pour one out for the twelve-cylinder BMW, folks. The car company has just announced its final run of M760i xDrive vehicles, fitted with what BMW is calling the very last V12 engine ever to be fitted to a BMW series production road vehicle. The party comes to a halt in June.

An even dozen of these machines will be made available for the American market. They’ll be distinguished by typical niche touches like unique badging and wheels, plus buyers will be given the run of the place in terms of colors and permitted to choose from the vast collection of exterior colors and upholstery offered by BMW Individual.

It’s been 35 years since BMW first offered a road-going V12, a naturally-aspirated 5.0L making just shy of 300 horsepower. Now, the configuration belts out twice that amount from 6.6L, aided by two turbochargers and tricks like variable valve control. Despite being lashed to an extremely large sedan, it can scoot to 60 mph from rest in about 3.5 seconds.

As one would expect, the Final V12 comes in one spec: Fully loaded. Plaques shouting “The Final V12” and “1 of 12” will pepper the car like confetti at a Macy’s parade, including inside on the center console and also under the hood affixed to its namesake engine. Other goodies include the luxury rear seating package which cleaves the area in two while pouring on the extravagance, plus the BMW ‘sky lounge’ LED headliner which does a good job of mimicking a similar feature found in its British-branded corporate cousin.

None of this should be a surprise, of course, not with plug-in hybrid powertrains heaving out equivalent (or more) levels of grunt while paying service to Johnny Polar Bear. There’s also a solid argument to be made that electrified powertrains, whether it’s a hybrid or full EV, are more than capable of besting these huge traditionally-powered engines off the line since they have access to world-destroying amounts of right now power from electric motors. If it’s pure accelerative thrills you’re after, it is tough to beat the rush of a 1,000 hp EV. There’s no replacing the soul of a V12 exhaust note, however, with some powerful all-electrics simply sounding like one of those Movators at the airport.

Want one? You’ll have to wait for your invitation. BMW says they’ll be clients with a long history of owning 7-Series machines with a V12 under the hood. Since they’re only making a dozen, that shouldn’t be too difficult a task. Production starts in June with deliveries planned for this summer.

[Image: BMW]