At the request of then Volkswagen Group CEO Ferdinand Piech, Giorgetto Giugiaro and his Italdesign team was tasked to design a Volkswagen sports car, with instructions that it had to accommodate a 12-cylinder engine in a W configuration, be mid-engined, and also be able to be configured with Volkswagen's Syncro all-wheel drive system.

In fact, the W12 engine featured in the W12 Nardò concept is closely related to the engines found in the Bentley Continental GT and Bentley Flying Spur.

The engine was rated at 441 kW (600 PS; 591 bhp) and 621 N⋅m (458 lbf⋅ft) of torque; it could accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in about 3.5 seconds, and had a top speed of 357 km/h (221.8 mph), weighing 1,200 kg (2,646 lb).

On 23 February 2002, a Volkswagen W12 coupé took the world record for all speed classes over 24 hours over the Nardò Ring at Lecce, covering a distance of 7,740.576 kilometres (4,809.8 mi) at an average speed of 322.891 km/h (200.6 mph).

The W12 Nardò also featured in a 2013 April Fools joke as the new Volkswagen LeVanto.