And what will power President Putin’s next limo? Why a V12 Porsche engine, of course

By Ronan Glon October 25, 2014

will putins limo powered porsche russia president design proposal 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A new report finds Porsche Engineering has been contracted by the Russian government to develop a brand-new, turbocharged V12 engine for president Vladimir Putin’s upcoming limousines.

Concrete details are few and far between but Russian media is reporting the twelve-cylinder’s displacement will vary between 6.0- and 6.6-liters. Likely fed with two large turbochargers, the mill will be tuned to generate over 800 horsepower in its most powerful configuration.

The V12 will be modular, too. The Kremlin asked Porsche to make sure the engine can easily spawn eight-, six- and even four-cylinder variants if the need arises. The 800-horsepower variant of the 12 will be used to power Putin’s personal limousine while the smaller variants will be fitted to a variety of planned off-shots including a SUV, a minivan, a crossover and even a smaller sedan.

Related: 911 to go all turbo?

All variants of the engine will be produced in a factory called ZMZ that has been churning out buses, vans and passengers since well before the fall of the Soviet empire. Russian authorities have stressed the engine will need to be manufactured using only components sourced locally.

Porsche Engineering signed on as a consultant with state-backed NAMI (the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engine Institute) last year but it has not revealed if the rumors regarding the V12 are true. We’ll have to wait a bit to find out as the first car isn’t scheduled to be introduced until 2017.

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Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

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