He Didn't Want to Walk to a Sausage Stand. So He Changed How Cities Move: The True Story of Wim Ouboter

Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories · Oct 13, 2026 · 6m

(00:53) No money, no experience

(00:00) A sausage one kilometre away

Chapters:

The true story of Wim Ouboter, the man from Zurich who invented the Micro scooter because his favourite sausage stand was about one kilometre away: too far to walk, too close to take the car. With little money and no experience in the industry, he launched a three-wheeled kickboard with the sports brand K2, started his own company and built the little folding Micro scooter. At its peak it sold 80,000 scooters a day and more than 30 million in a year. Then sales collapsed: more than 500 factories copied his idea…