Porsche is a brand synonymous with the legendary flat-six engine, but if you thought the German brand had given up on internal combustion engines despite impending electrification, think again. The automaker’s latest patent for a new W18 powerplant recently surfaced, revealing a design that feels like a conscious pushback against the entire electric vehicle narrative that dominates the industry. This comes at a time when Porsche’s operating profit fell 67 percent in the first half of 2025 due to factors such as a decline in sales in China and US tariffs. CEO Oliver Blume is expected to depart and Michael Leiters will take over in 2026. Despite financial pressures and an ongoing restructuring of the EV roadmap, engineers in Zuffenhausen are still finding ways to reinvent mechanical performance.
The W-based configuration is not new across the Volkswagen Group. Bentley’s legendary W12, used in models such as the Continental GT Speed and Flying Spur, has long proven how smooth, compact and powerful this layout can be. Bugatti also experimented with W engines in its early modern era. Several pre-production Veyron concepts featured an 18-cylinder engine before the design eventually evolved into the production W16, which was used in the Veyron and Chiron during the glorious Pïech era. The new tourbillon marked the end of this chapter, but the W philosophy obviously lives on within the group.
Porsche’s reinterpretation goes one step further. The patent describes an 18-cylinder engine built around three banks of six cylinders, each with its own turbocharger and feeding a single crankshaft. It is modular, scalable and space-optimized, meaning the layout offers flexibility for nine, twelve, fifteen or eighteen cylinders depending on the application, and everything fits into the footprint of an inline-six. The key difference from the old VW-style W layout is notable. This version combined two interconnected VR6 blocks, while here everything runs through a central crankshaft, a true W. This reduces turbo lag through shorter paths, less resistance and more pressure.
The timing of this patent is significant. Porsche originally had an ambitious plan to launch an 80 percent all-electric lineup by 2030, but that plan was scaled back after a global decline in demand for electric vehicles. The brand now sees more value in a diversified approach by selling petrol and electric models side by side. We’re already seeing this with the new Macan, the Cayenne, and the same will probably happen with the next 718 Boxster and Cayman, which were originally supposed to be purely electric but are now expected to have combustion engines.
It’s worth noting that sometimes an engine only exists as a full-fledged test bench that makes its findings available to other projects. Maybe no W18 will ever hit the road. Maybe it’ll just produce a smarter V6, a better turbo, or a cooler intake system. But if the W18 does enter production, and if electrified in some form, could it support Porsche’s long-awaited successors to the 918 Spyder, Carrera GT and 959 range? Porsche concepts like the 919 Street and the Mission A production halo supercar would result in a new-age holy trinity to rival the Ferrari F80 and McLaren W1.
