Bentley and Little Car Company go beyond vintage with an all-electric, street legal Blower Jnr
Bentley Motors and The Little Car Company have teamed up to bring a street legal, 85% scale version of a vehicle that goes beyond classic, beyond vintage, and beyond expensive. Built to Bentley Motors’ quality standards, the all-electric Blower Jnr, inspired by the former’s historic 1929 Car No. 2, arrives as a truly unique blend of past and present you’ve gotta see.
Bentley Motors Ltd. currently holds clout as a century-old automotive brand recognized for its expertise in quality and luxury. Although the Bentley name still resonates as a status symbol for the wealthy, sustainability has not been one of its core pillars until recently.
The English automaker has promised to go entirely electric within the next ten years, expanding its lineup to include PHEVs including like the Bentayga and Flying Spur. To kick off 2022, Bentley announced its “Beyond100” electrification strategy, vowing again to go full EV by 2030 on the wings of a £2.5 billion (~$3.4 billion) investment in its Crewe manufacturing facility to manufacture five new BEVs – one arriving each year beginning in 2025.
While we await Bentley’s fully electric models, we’ve seen other smaller companies electrify classic models from the English automaker, like the S2 Continental. However, I don’t think we’ve seen anyone dig as deep into the past as the Little Car Company, who has created an electric version of the Blower Jnr – arguably the most famous Bentley ever built.
You’ve gotta see this “Little” electric Bentley
This new Blower Jnr debuts as an 85% scale recreation of Bentley Motors’ 1929 4½-liter Supercharged Car No. 2 from Bentley’s Heritage Collection. While the original never won an endurance race, the Blower Bentley was the outright fastest race car of the day and went down in history as the supercharged version that competed at the 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Through its collaboration with Bentley, The Little Car Company was given access to the original 1929 vehicle (which is insured for over $31 million by the way), in order to create a scaled replica that is hand built to the same standards as its original makers. The Little Car Company is proud to proclaim its all-electric Bentley Blower Jnr will have experts doing double takes. Here are some specs:
- 3.7 meters (12.1 ft) long and 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) wide
- 48V electric powertrain with a 15 kW (20 bhp) motor
- Top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) in the UK and EU
- 25 mph (40 km/h) in the US due to legislation (Lame!)
- Expected range around 65 miles
- Tandem seating for two adults
- Painted steel frame with an authentic chassis specification attached
- Carbon fiber reach structure (rather than ash like the original)
- Front houses a charger port capable of Level 1 or 2 speeds
- Fuel pressure pump repurposed as the drive mode selector, with a choice of Comfort (2 kW), Bentley (8 kW) or Sport (15 kW)
To begin, The Little Car Company says it will build 99 First Edition versions of the electric Bentley Jnr, each with unique badges and an engraved numbered plaque. The side panel and radiator carry a period-correct racing number and the steering wheel is rope-bound (seen above). Those limited run versions will cost £90,000 (~$115,000), excluding taxes and shipping.
It’s important to point out that the Blower Jnr is also the first completely street legal vehicle from The Little Car Company, whether its in the UK, EU, or US. The Little electric Bentley will debut in front of a crowd of VIPs at Monterey Car Week this evening and make appearances throughout the annual event.
The Little Car Company says it production of the Blower Jnr is expected to begin in Q2 of 2024, beginning with the 99 First Edition models.
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James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.
There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.
We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.
Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares last week and over $100 million in the last 3 months.
Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:
He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.
Murdoch was appointed to Tesla’s board in 2017.
He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.
For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.
Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.
It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.
But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.
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Environment
Mercedes’ new electric people mover is coming soon: Here’s a sneak peek at the luxe EV van
The next generation of Mercedes-Benz luxury vans is almost here. Mercedes’ first luxury electric van, based on its new VAN.EA platform, is now in Arjeplog, Sweden, for winter testing. The new platform will serve as the base for upcoming VIP private vans, high-end limousines, luxury all-arounders, and much more.
What we know about Mercedes’ new luxury electric van
Mercedes is already a leading van maker, both for business and private use. Starting next year, all electric Mercedes’ vans will launch on its new Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA).
After unveiling the platform almost two years ago, Mathias Geisen, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said “VAN.EA clearly underscores our aspiration to ‘Lead in Electric.” He explained that the purpose-built EV architecture supports both mid and large vans.
With a modular design, Mercedes can easily swap out sections to create a different design. The platform consists of three blocks, or modules.
The first block has the electric powertrain while the middle module determines the van’s dimensions. At the rear, the final module can add another electric motor, giving it AWD capabilities.
With 4MATIC AWD, Mercedes claims the new architecture significantly expands driving range and ensures the vans “meet the highest standards regardless of weather conditions.”
Although final specs will be revealed closer to launch, the electric vans will be based on an 800V platform, suggesting relatively fast charging speeds.
The luxury vans will also be loaded with Mercedes’ new operating system (MB.OS), it’s powerful new in-vehicle software that powers all functions like infotainment, autonomous driving, and more.
After the electric van began testing on public roads late last year, Mercedes said it was headed to Sweden for winter testing before its official debut next year.
Mercedes plans to launch several versions for private and business use. The VAN.EA-P is designed for those looking for a mobile office, family activity vehicle, etc., while the VAN.EA-C is for commercial use, such as courier, express, and parcel delivery vehicles. It can even support larger vehicles like campers or RVs.
Mercedes aims for 20% of van sales to be electric by the end of next year. By 2030, the luxury brand wants half of all van sales to be EV.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
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Environment
BlackRock’s Fink says Trump deportations will have severe impact on agriculture, construction
HOUSTON — BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Monday that President Donald Trump‘s deportation policy will have a severe impact on the agriculture and construction sectors, which could lead to elevated inflation in the near term.
“I think that over the next six to nine months, we’re going to see a little more elevated inflation,” Fink said the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. “I do believe deportations and the speed at which it is happening is going to have severe impacts on the agricultural sector and the construction sector.”
Fink said CEOs in the agriculture sector have told him that about 70% of the men and women who work in the industry were not born in the U.S. This raises the question of whether the U.S. will have enough labor to harvest the crops when spring arrives, Fink said.
“With the whole idea that we’re going to have to use private capital to build out this economy — are we going to have enough workers,” Fink asked. “I’ve even told members of the Trump team that we’re going to run out of electricians as we build out AI data centers — we just don’t have enough,” the CEO said.
This potential labor shortage will contribute to inflation, Fink said. Over the longer term, however, the U.S. could see “big deflation because of the advancement of AI and robots and how that’s going to reshape the economy,” the CEO said.
The deflationary pressure that the U.S. experienced over the past two decades was due in part to the importation of cheaper goods from overseas though this hurt U.S. workers, Fink said. The shift to rising nationalism around the world will have an impact on prices, he said.
“When I go to Washington, they talk about these policies,” Fink said. “I ask at what cost are you willing to tolerate that. “Yes, we may have opportunities to create better and more robust jobs, but then the offside of that will be, it will probably create a little more elevated inflation in the short run.”
Trump’s deportation policy is occurring at the same time the president is imposing tariffs on major U.S. trade partners. The president has slapped 20% tariffs on China. He has paused tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods that are compliant with the deal that governs trade in North America. But Trump is threatening what he calls “reciprocal tariffs” in April.
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