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| Waterproof, seven inches and it plays music too. Oh, and there is a Mahindra electric scooter attached to the screen. |
INDIA’S Mahindra Group will start building an electric scooter
designed to meet the needs of Generation Z at its Ann Arbor factory in Michigan,
U.S.
People born in the Z Generation — also known as the Born Frees in
South Africa — were the world’s first babies who grew up using a cellphone as a
chewing toy.
They are the ones who innately understands any new gizmo which
bewilders their elders and —even more bewildering to the corporates who try to
sell them stuff — prefer to collaborate rather than compete. In the GenZe
scooter, Mahindra looks to be the one corporation who “gets” the specific needs
of Generation Z. For one, the handlebar comes with charger outlets for a laptop
or a phone.
It also has a weather-proof, seven-inch screen to show the
scooter’s speed, but more importantly for Generation Z’s needs, the screen
mirrors smartphone apps to play music, show a map or messages from social media
platforms.
Made for quick trips to the shops, the step-through scooter comes
with a large storage box above the rear wheel and a flat floor on which bags can
stand between the rider’s feet.
Two characteristics of the Z Generation is their short attention
spans and need to get things done speedily. The GenZe scooter is not speedy even
for the sedentary generation at which it is aimed
— the top speed is less than 50 km/h
— but in Michigan and several other U.S. states
this means no license is required to ride it and hence no forms to fill in.
Scooters also cut through gridlocked cars like a Heur dropper
through Microsoft’s antivirus programme, which is just how the GenZe riders like
it.
The GenZe scooter’s battery range is from 30 to 50 kilometres,
depending on the rider’s weight and the steepness of the route, but because GenZ
people typically socialise from the privacy of their couches, this a not a
matter of concern. When the battery is flat, it removes easily and is light
enough to be carried and charged in the office or at home.
Mahindra has about 100 engineers based in Michigan to design
products for its global markets, and the company said in a statement the plant
at Ann Arbor can build 20 000 GenZe scooters a year, with college students,
urban commuters, and workers at office parks and urban campuses their target
buyers.
