Micro Mobility Systems
Micro Mobility Systems Ltd, known as Micro, is a Swiss company that produces urban vehicles such as kickscooters and the Microlino, a small electric car which was first presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016. In the United States, Micro's products are sold under the brand "Micro Kickboard" for trademark reasons. The company holds several patents for its products.
History
Early history
Wim Ouboter, born in 1960, built a kick scooter out of laziness. He stated that the distance from his apartment to his favorite restaurant was too far to travel by foot and yet too close to use a bicycle. He then invented a two-wheeled scooter for distances that could easily be folded and placed in a backpack. He pitched his idea to Smart, and they were willing to put one Scooter in every single car. Ouboter then tried to find a manufacturer for his innovation but soon realized that Europe was too expensive. In Taiwan, he convinced the factory owner to produce the Scooter; as Smart considered his idea to be good, this helped convince the factory owner. Just before the production could start, Smart failed the moose test, so the project was put on hold until Smart could resolve the problem.Formation of Micro Mobility Systems
While waiting for Smart to resolve the problem, Ouboter had another idea for a three-wheeled scooter, called the Kickboard. He teamed up with K2 and presented his idea at the International Sports Fair (ISPO) in Munich in 1998 very successfully. With the earned money, he founded Micro Mobility Systems in 1999 and started producing the two-wheeled Scooter, which was an even bigger success. Because of the excessive demand, he allowed his partner in Taiwan to distribute the Scooter in the United States with the name Razor for a commission. After selling about one million Scooters in 2000, the sales decreased rapidly in 2001.Later history
In the subsequent years, the company continued inventing new urban mobility products, such as the Mini Micro for children, the Scooter Luggage and the electric eMicro One. In addition, Micro has partnered with other brands; these include Peugeot, Suitsupply and Vibram.The company has also developed the Micro Xtreme for freestyle sports, and works closely with professional athletes like Benjamin Friant. After the huge success in 2000 and the rapid downfall in 2001, Micro has grown organically with gross revenue in 2014 of 60 Million Swiss Francs. With the development of the company, manufacturing capacities shifted to RazorUSA in California. In 2015, Wim Ouboter was nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.
In July 2019, BMW unveiled two new scooters made in collaboration with Micro Mobility Systems.