Vespa is an iconic Italian scooter brand owned by Piaggio and has a history with Indian two wheeler market as well. Vespa has entered Indian market twice earlier in joint ventures or collaboration with Bajaj and LML but lately, these joint ventures did not last the test of times and came to an end. With its recent entry into India, Piaggio has launched Vespa Brand in India with the introduction of its globally popular lifestyle scooter Vespa LX125 in India at a price of Rs. 66,610 which is quite steep when compared to the mass market scooters in India like Honda Activa, Suzuki Access, TVS Wego and Mahindra Rodeo with most of these products priced very competitively under Rs. 50,000 mark. When comparing the Vespa LX125, it does not actually fall under the category of the mass market scooter as it is a premium product by Piaggio with premium styling and features, which is why they have priced it at a premium as well.
However, Vespa does has plans to get into the mass market scooters in India with other products, the specifics of which are not revealed as yet, which will compete with the mass market scooters in India. The new scooter to be launched in India by Vespa will have a petrol engine between 100 to 125 CC and will be priced around Rs. 50,000 price tag. It will not feature premium styling and features of Vespa LX125, but it will have a nice design by Vespa and a fuel efficient engine coupled to an automatic transmission system which we find in most of these scooters in India.
image – Vespa LX125 Launched In India
Vespa has invested over Rs. 200 crores in India and has a production capacity of about 1.5 Lakh units annually in India. The facility will be scaled up to 3.0 lakh units capacity by 2013 which will give Vespa enough scope to enter into the flourishing scooter market in India.
The reason why gearless scooters in India are in so much demand is the ease of use and economy they offer. With Indian roads getting more and more congested, driving a gearless scooter is really comfortable compared to the geared scooters and motorcycles which cause higher fatigue in stop-and-go city traffic. Also the fuel economy offers by these scooters is usually 40+ KMPL under real conditions which makes them an efficient and economic mode of transport. We will be keeping a close eye on the developments related to Vespa Mass market scooter for India, stay tuned to us for more updates by liking our official Facebook Page.
via – clubauto
Updated on 7th August 2012
As per a recent report by ET, Piaggio will bring the mass market scooter by 2013 end. Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL) Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Chopra has quoted:
“The scooter segment in India is growing at a tremendous pace. No company would like to miss this opportunity and for that we need to be in the mass market segment”
The most interesting revelation is that the new Mass market scooter will not be branded as a Vespa scooter as Vespa is an elite brand for premium products. We expect the scooter to be branded as Piaggio, which can be a low cost scooter from global markets like the Piaggio Liberty or Piaggio Fly which is sold in the UK markets. Piaggio is also investing a sum of Rs. 150 Crore to ramp up the production capacity by late 2013 or early 2014 to cope up the demand of the new mass market scooter to be added to its Indian portfolio. We will keep you posted on the same, stay tuned to Car Blog India for latest updates.
