It's been said that the wages of war is death, but that is not always true.  A while back, Volkswagen started down an entirely new path and created a truly revolutionary engine and techcnology, which is now being put to good use in their impressive line-ups with such names as the Bugatti Veyron, Audi R8, Bently Continental. VW W12, and now the Audi R8 V10.  North Americans are almost oblivious to the war that's being waged around the world by two of the largest luxury car makers on the Earth, VW and BMW.



In Germany it's no secret that VW and BMW have been at war, and just like World War II, great advances in technology are being made by both sides. Ever since VW Automotive Group purchased Bently (1998), Bugatti, and Lamborghini (1998), and Skoda (1999) they have been advancing their weapons of war with the vehicles they are putting on the ground.

From the trenches of VW has come a truly great lineup of vehicles that utilize VW's "W" engine technology.  Now, we're all very used to the old V-8 engines from U.S. muscle cars with for cylinders on the left and four on the right with an angle of 45 degrees separating them.   Volkswagen Group currently produces W12 engines by forming two imaginary narrow-angle 15° VR6 engines at an angle of 72°.  The narrow angle of each set of cylinders allows just two overhead camshafts to drive each pair of banks, so just four are needed in total. Note that this design differs from the W18 engine that Volkswagen Group produced for its Bugatti concept cars of 1998 and 1999. Due to this distinction, the Volkswagen Group's W12 engine can sometimes described as a "WR12".  Volkswagen also utilizes the same engine concept on the W8 (8 cylinders) and W16( 16 cylinders) engines.  This engine technology has allowed VW to put their engine into

VW's first introduced their first sports car concept, a bright yellow W12 syncro Coupe with a 5.6 litre W12 engine producing 309 kilowatts (420 PS; 414 bhp) with Syncro four-wheel drive. It, and the W12 concepts after it, were all designed by the Italdesign firm in Italy. 

And then, at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen Group showcased a prototype Volkswagen Nardo W12 Coupé, a mid-engined, rear-wheel drive supercar powered by a 6.0 litre W12 engine, producing 600 horsepower (447 kW; 608 PS). A week before, the W12 Coupe broke the 24 hour world endurance record. A total distance of 7,085.7 kilometres (4,402.8 mi) was covered at an average speed of 295.24 kilometres per hour (183.45 mph), breaking the old record by 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph). Production of the W12 Coupé was considered, but was subsequently cancelled.  But, the "W" engine technology was soon launched into many of their other brands: Bently, Bugatti, VW, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Skoda.

The Volkswagen Group W12 engine is used in some high-end luxury models:

* Audi A8 W12
* Bentley Continental GT
* Bentley Continental Flying Spur
* Spyker C12 LaTurbie
* Spyker C12 Zagato
* Spyker D12 Peking-to-Paris
* Volkswagen Touareg W12

The Audi R8 is utilzing the W8 engine technology and is perhaps one of the sexiest supercars on the road and from the looks of it, has borrowed a thing or two from the Volkswagen W12 Coupe.  Both are mid engine all wheel drive(Quattro) supercars and boast looks that your mother warned you about.



Just when we thought that VW could do no more, they've done even more by revealing on 24 October 2009 that it had made an offer to acquire long-time partner and German niche automotive manufacturer Wilhelm Karmann GmbH out of bankruptcy protection. In November 2009, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG approved the acquisition of assets of Karmann, and plan to restart vehicle production at their Osnabrück plant in 2012.

The real niche in the VW AG belt was the announcement in December 2009 that VW had bought a 49.9% stake in Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (more commonly known as Porsche AG) in a first step towards an 'integrated automotive group' with Porsche. This was agreed between Volkswagen AG and Porsche SE during negotiations on the contracts of implementation relating to the merger of the two companies. The merger of Volkswagen AG and Porsche SE is scheduled to take place during the course of 2011. With all of theses acquisitions, VW has surely stepped ahead of German automotive war game.



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