“We think it’s by far the sexiest scooter on the market,” said Travis VanderZanden, Bird’s founder and chief executive.
Bird Rides Inc. will release Wednesday a new electric scooter model in Los Angeles and Santa Monica that it hopes will outlive its predecessors — and find a market among scooter riders who want to purchase a Bird of their own.And in a change for the Santa Monica company, riders will be able to buy the Bird One outright for $1,299 in classic black as well as two colors unavailable to the scooter-sharing public: Dove White and Electric Rose, an array of colors familiar to any iPhone fan.
“We always knew we would have to go deep in the hardware business,” VanderZanden told The Times. “Early on when I started importing scooters on Alibaba, it was pretty clear that the hardware that existed at the time wasn't going to cut it for a real commuter.” A Times investigation found that the life span of some Bird Zeros — the company’s first in-house model — averaged nearly four months. Bird disputes the estimate, which was based on data pulled from the company’s smartphone application.“Which is exciting, because that means it's profitable for us,” VanderZanden said. “And for Bird One, we're just starting to roll it out tomorrow, but we project that its life span is going to be over 12 months.
Bird’s core business remains dockless scooter rental, but VanderZanden said the company had found that some riders were interested in owning their own two-wheelers.
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