Bentley opts for Britain over Germany with W12 engine production

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - German-owned luxury car maker Bentley Motors said it would move production of all its W12 cylinder engines to Britain from Germany by the end of the year, after reporting a record 2013 profit on Wednesday.

The firm, bought by Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) in 1998, said it would produce all of its 12 cylinder engines at its Crewe facilities in central England by the end of 2014, and expects to be producing a total of 9,000 engines by 2017/18.

Currently some 5,000 engines are manufactured in Crewe, with a remaining few thousand made in Salzgitter (Other OTC: SZGPY - news) in Germany.

The increase in the number of engines would lead to Bentley exporting engines to cars made outside of Britain for the first time, with some to be used in as-yet unspecified Audi (Other OTC: AUDVF - news) and Volkswagen models.

Bentley, which posted a 67 percent jump in operating profit to a record 139.7 million pounds, has been making its ultra-luxury vehicles including the flagship Mulsanne limousine at its factory in Crewe since 1946. (Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Kate Holton)