Porsche has quietly filed a patent for an 18-cylinder engine that could mark the return of a true halo combustion car.
It’s a genuine W18 design, with three banks of six cylinders arranged around a single crankshaft, with each bank getting its own turbocharger. This will equate to a triple-turbo setup in a space not much larger than a straight-six.
*AI Generated Image
The patent sketches from Porsche show careful attention to airflow. Intake ports sit above the cylinder banks for clean, direct air flow, while the exhaust is routed below and between them to keep temperature low.
They claim this will improve engine efficiency and allow higher power without increasing displacement. It’s traditional Porsche engineering, and something they’ve managed to do well for so many years, creating compact, functional cars that are obsessed with extracting more for less.
The design is modular, and depending on the application, it can be configured as a W9, W12, W15 or the full W18. It’s flexibility that opens possibilities across the models lucky enough to occupy the configuration, from track focused cars to a potential 918 successor.
Patenting is one thing, actually reaching production is another, but if they are able to achieve that it would likely pair with hybrid assistance and become the most exotic engine Porsche has ever built.
It’s fitting timing, as Porsche have recently stepped back from full electrification, coming to the fact that many of its buyers still want high end cars with combustion engines.
