Car companies sometimes find themselves with odd bedfellows, a situation which can result in the strangest of collabs. Witness the penchant of some brands to slap their name on a bicycle, such as the McLaren Venge of a decade ago which actually incorporated some of Macca’s expertise in composite construction to result in a bike one-fifth lighter than anything the cycling manufacturer could achieve on its own.
This time around, it’s Jeep and Razor working together to create the Jeep RX200 electric scooter. Your author deeply hopes it is available to navigate through Hell’s Revenge at Moab during this year’s Easter Safari. Hey, it does say Trail Rated, right?
While most of these collabs are basically brand extensions and licensing deals, this little electric scooter actually makes an effort to provide a nod to the Jeep lifestyle. There are the typical stickers, and an Army Green paint job, but those 8-inch pneumatic tires actually look a shade gnarlier than the donuts normally fitted to an electric scooter. Top speed? Just 12 mph, or about the same average pace at which your typical Jeep picks its way through the Rubicon Trail.
If you’re really interested, the scooter has a 200-watt motor powered by a 24-volt battery system, letting you ride for up to 40 minutes on a single charge. I’d wager it wouldn’t last that long with your author at the controls, given his 6’6” frame and penchant for pin-it-to-the-bar motoring. I rarely get a full session out of an electric go-kart, for example.
Even though it’s easy to make fun of stuff like this, the reality is that tie-ups such as these often provide a decent amount of brand exposure to an audience that may not be a traditional audience – one way or another. You can bet a pack of U-joints that there are some city-dwelling urbanites who know Razor scooters but are unfamiliar with Jeep, while the suburban parents signing the note on a Grand Cherokee might think this scooter is just the ticket for Johnny’s birthday after seeing one as part of a display. There are worse ways to license one’s brand, such as a Jimmie Johnson paddleball set or plastic figurines which look nothing like the driver they’re supposed to represent and instead only serve to give nightmares to small children.
As you’d expect, the RX200 electric scooter will be supported through cross-promotion marketing efforts by both the Jeep brand and Razor, including the typical social media platforms. In other words, expect it to show up on your Facebook news feed approximately 0.0002 seconds after you hit up the Jeep build-and-price tool to look at the Wrangler 392.
[Image: Jeep/Razor]
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