Just when everyone thought Porsche was heading full throttle into electrification, its engineers have quietly gone and filed a patent for something that looks straight out of a combustion-engine fever dream: a proper W-shaped internal-combustion engine with up to 18 cylinders and three turbochargers.

The patent, which you can read here, details what Porsche calls a “space-optimized” design. Instead of the typical twin-V setup found in Bugatti’s “W” engines, this is a real W layout. Three banks of cylinders meeting at a shared crankshaft, each bank arranged at a 60° angle. Think of it as three in-line-sixes fused together, all working in sync.

In its most extreme form, the setup would be an 18-cylinder, tri-turbo monster, but the document also leaves the door open for smaller variants with nine or 15 cylinders, depending on how many per bank. In theory, Porsche could scale it down for packaging reasons, though the main focus seems to be demonstrating just how compact and efficient such a complex layout can be.

According to the patent, the intake system feeds air directly in a straight line, minimizing frictional losses and keeping airflow clean and cool. The exhaust system runs between and beneath the cylinder banks, separating hot and cold zones. This “clear separation,” Porsche notes, keeps the intake charge from heating up, resulting in denser air and higher potential power output. In plain English: Cooler air equals more horsepower.

If that sounds like engineering wizardry, then that’s because it is. Porsche claims this setup could deliver more power without increasing displacement, and with one turbo per cylinder bank, it’s easy to imagine the theoretical performance numbers climbing into the stratosphere.

Of course, patents don’t mean production. Automakers often file them to protect ideas that may never make it beyond the workstations of the engineers who thought them up. Still, the timing of this one feels deliberate. Porsche filed another new engine patent just last year, recently backed off some of its EV ambitions, and just got a new CEO who is said to be a bit more old-school than the EV-pushing boss he replaced.

In that context, this W18 could be more than a thought experiment. It could be a signal that Porsche isn’t done pushing internal combustion to its limits, even as the rest of the industry goes all-in on electric power. Would a tri-turbo W18 make sense in anything short of a 918 Spyder successor? Probably not. But the mere idea that someone in Stuttgart is still sketching out an 18-cylinder masterpiece in 2025 should make every petrolhead grin. Because while the future may be electric, Porsche clearly hasn’t forgotten how to dream in petrol.