Auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is joining the electric scooter craze after developing a new product in partnership with scooter manufacturer Micro.
Business Insider reports that Mercedes-Benz has quietly entered a new vehicle market — electric scooters. The company announced a new Mercedes-Benz scooter at the Frankfurt Motors Show last week. Discussing the new direction, the firm said in a statement:
E-scooters have only been allowed on German roads since June, and it is already hard to conceive of a traffic scene without them. These agile, electrically powered scooters are the perfect way to cover short distances quickly and without harming the environment.
The new E-Scooter in the Mercedes-Benz EQ brand family was developed in cooperation with the scooter specialist micro, and is specifically designed for the first or last mile, making it the perfect companion for those wanting flexible mobility solutions. Co-branded with micro, the Mercedes star and the EQ logo appear on the handlebar stem as a trademark for Electric Intelligence.
The firm has yet to reveal technical details about the scooters such as its top speed or other specs and hasn’t announced where the scooters will be available to buy but the discussion of the legalization of scooters in Germany implies it may be in the firm’s home market.
No full photos of the new scooter have been released yet either aside from a photo of a scooter wheel with the Mercedes-Benz logo attached. But, we will likely be seeing more of the scooters soon as the release date for the two-wheeled vehicle is set for “early 2020.”
The introduction of scooters in many cities across the United States and Europe has been a controversial move, as companies such as Bird and Lime funded by venture-capital dollars expand. Many cities have struggled to keep up with the new vehicles with regulators complaining of vehicles littering the pavements, people driving the vehicles while intoxicated, and in some cases causing fatal accidents.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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