7 days ago
Bentley's First EV, The Beautiful Little Blower Jnr, Begins Production
The original 1929 Bentley Blower, surrounded by four of the 2025 Blower Jnr EVs.
The latest Bentley car has been signed off and is ready to enter production. But instead of being an update to the Continental GT, Flying Spur or Bentayga, the British brand's newest car is a scaled-down recreation of a legendary 1920s racer.
It's called the Blower Jnr and, although a product sold by Bentley, it's actually built by a company called Hedley Studios. It's also fully-electric – and as such is the first Bentley EV to enter production.
An 85 percent scale replica of the famous Bentley Blower race car from 1929, the $115,000 Blower Jnr is street legal in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere. Limited to just 349 examples, the two seater is powered by a 48-volt electrical system and a single, 15 kW (20 horsepower) motor on the rear axle. It has a claimed top speed of 45 mph in the UK and Europe (and 25 mph in the US, owing to local legislation), and an expected range of around 65 miles.
The driver and passenger are seated in a tandem formation, one behind the other, and there's a small trunk inside what was the original car's fuel tank. Technical highlights include a steel painted frame, scaled-down leaf spring suspension and period-correct friction dampers, plus modern technology like Brembo brakes from a Ducati motorcycle and a rear body structure made from carbon.
Only the two seatbelt posts, sprouting upwards from the cabin, give away that this car isn't really ... More from the 1920s.
Bentley says the Blower Jnr completed 18 months and thousands of miles of on-road testing to refine and prove its design, culminating in a 650-mile, three-day driving event on the island of Jersey, located off the south coast of England and with a uniform 45 mph speed limit. Its makers say more than 100 examples have already been bought or reserved, and that buyers are invited to put their cars through Bentley's Mulliner personalization program, should they wish to commission something truly unique.
Ben Hedley, founder and CEO of Hedley Studios (formerly The Little Car Company), said, 'Heading into production of the Bentley Blower Jnr marks a seminal moment for our brand, as we bring to life our very first road-legal piece of automotive art. Our team of engineers and craftspeople have worked tirelessly to design and craft the Bentley Blower Jnr, and in close collaboration with clients around the world, they have begun the design process of some wonderfully unique examples of the Bentley Blower Jnr.'
Hedley says his company expects the first customer cars to be delivered in a matter of months.
The street-legal EV (right) is an 85 percent scale replica of the 1929 original (left).
Mike Sayer, who oversees Bentley's heritage collection and regularly drives the original 1929 Blower Team Car #2, worth $33 million, said, 'The Blower Jnr may be smaller in scale, but its presence, performance and sense of occasion invoke the spirit of the original. We can't wait to see these cars on the road soon, and look forward to taking delivery of the first car to join our heritage collection.'
I was fortunate enough to drive an early development car back in 2024 and it remains, without doubt, one of the most entertaining driving experiences of my life. Despite being smaller than the original, the Blower Jnr is still a proper-sized car, at about 12 feet long and almost five feet wide. I've never known a car to turn as many heads as the Blower Jnr did that day, even on the streets of Chelsea and Battersea – areas of London familiar with all manner of super- and hypercar.
It's unlikely that another Blower Jnr will be spotted in London any time soon, since it's expected that almost all cars sold will head abroad, no doubt to warmer climates than that of the UK. With that in mind, I can only imagine the fun Blower Jnr owners will have driving their pint-sized electric Bentleys in Beverly Hills, Dubai, Verbier and Antibes.
