
Bell first unveiled the Nexus eVTOL aircraft at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2019, but revealed a further honed design—dubbed the Nexus 4EX—at CES 2020. When announced at CES 2019 as a six-ducted design, the first flight for was projected in 2020, with aircraft certification to follow in 2023. These timeline points subsequently slipped and Bell subsequently made changes to the design under the working title 4EX.
By late 2021, the program appeared to be somewhat dormant with Textron executives implying that it was no longer a priority. However, with the subsequent launch of the U.S. aerospace group's new eAviation division, the Nexus appears to be gaining momentum. In October 2022 at the NBAA business aviation show, the company confirmed that Bell's engineering team, supported by colleagues from Textron and new sister company Pipistrel, is building the first full-scale prototype and expect to be ready to start flying it in 2024 or 2025.

The new design is larger than the earlier 4EX, with a maximum takeoff weight of 8,000 pounds and a 50-foot wingspan. It features an open rotor system with four stationary units for vertical lift and a pair of tilting rotors for the transition to cruise flight. The main outcome of the changes to the four-passenger vehicle appears to be a boost in the range from 60 to 100 nautical miles, with the wingspan increase explained as a response to FAA requirements. The Nexus is now around the same size as Textron's Cessna Grand Caravan fixed-wing aircraft and will have a cruise speed of 120 kts.