This New Half-Size Bugatti Might Just Make Your Full-Size Car Jealous

The latest Bugatti is as much an ode to today as it is to the past.

The French marque and the Little Car Company have just pulled back the curtain on the Baby II Tourbillon Edition. The pint-sized vehicle, as the name may have given away, features a design inspired by the brand’s new hybrid hypercar.

The Baby II is the modern reincarnation of the Baby, or Type 52, a half-scale recreation of Bugatti’s legendary Type 35 race car powered by a 12-volt electric motor. The original Baby was meant to be a one-off built for founder Ettore Bugatti’s youngest son, Roland, but customers got wind of the vehicle and wanted one for themselves. The automaker wound up building 500 examples between 1927 and 1936. Then, in 2019, the Little Car Company received a license from the marque to bring the petite racer back—as a ¾ scale vehicle with a more powerful electric motor. The bump in size means that all but the largest of adults can take the car for a spin.

The new Baby II Tourbillon Edition wears a special livery inspired by the launch car used to unveil its namesake this past June. The body is finished in light and dark shades of Aerolithe separated by Bugatti’s trademark C-line, which stretches from the rear of the cockpit to its horseshoe-shaped grille. The color scheme carries over to the interior, where the seat is covered in leather upholstery that matches the lighter shade. Other Tourbillon-inspired details include Gunmetal Grey carbon wheels with engraved “EB” caps and a hand-painted French flag applied by the in-house artist at Henley Studios, where each Baby II is hand-built.

The tiny EV may not be a match for the 1,800-hp hypercar that inspired it, but it’s got some pep. Specs have not been announced but past versions have been powered by a 2.8-kWh battery pack and helps the motor produce 13.4 hp and travel over 30 miles on a single charge. It’s not exactly a speed demon, but it can reach a top speed of 45 mph in its most advanced driving mode.

Neither Bugatti nor the Little Car Company have announced how much the Baby II Tourbillon Edition will cost or how many will be built, but we’d be willing to wager it will be expensive and rare. Past versions have ranged anywhere in price from $36,000 to $85,000. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the latest Baby II will get its own matching watch.