A 1959 Vespa military scooter equipped with a cannon is being auctioned in Monaco on May 12 by Coys Auction.

Listed among a number of rare and exotic cars, the Vespa is valued at 12,000-15,000 euros (US$15,500-19,400). The scooter is a Vespa 150 TAP (“Troupes aéroportées”, or French Airborne Forces) produced by Ateliers de Construction de Motocycles et Automobiles (ACMA) under license from Vespa.

The military scooter is equipped with a U.S.-produced M20 75mm rifle which sits on the saddle and protrudes through the front leg shield. The M20 is a recoilless rifle, firing anti-armor ammunition while venting propellant gasses out the rear to reduce the recoil. Still, stabilizers were used to hold the scooter steady when firing. Continue Reading »

Increased scooter sales offset a drop in motorcycle sales, but both segments reported increases in net sales for the Piaggio Group in the first quarter of 2012.

According to Piaggio‘s first quarter report, the Group sold 9,400 motorcycles worldwide, down 8.2% from the 10,300 units sold in the same quarter last year. Scooter sales however saw a 7.9% increase to 79,200 units from 73,400 units. The Piaggio Group’s two-wheeled vehicle brands include Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, and Vespa, as well as Derbi, Gilero and Scarabeo.

Despite the drop in units sold, net sales from motorcycles actually increased 10.4% to 44.4 million euros (US$57.7 million) from 40.2 million euros. Net sales from scooters also increased by 8.4% to 154.0 million euros (US$200.3 million) from the 142.0 million euros reported in the first quarter of 2011. Moto Guzzi in particular had a good first quarter with revenues increasing more than 50%. Continue Reading »

Piaggio has launched its Vespa brand in India, introducing the iconic scooter to the world’s second-largest two-wheeler market.

When we think of motorcycle in India, we tend to think of low-cost small displacement motorcycles and scooters. That’s beginning to change with the influx of larger displacement models commonly found in other markets. Vespa opens a new premium scooter segment to India with the LX125.

Priced at 66,661 rupees (US$1270), the Vespa LX125 is the most affordable Vespa in the world (by comparison, Vespa USA prices the LX 50 at $3,399 while the LX150 is priced at $4,599). but still represents a 40% premium over the average scooter in India. Despite the premium price, Indian consumers are willing to pay more for the Vespa brand. Continue Reading »

Piaggio confirmed it will be importing the production version of its Vespa 946 (a.k.a. the “Quarantasei“) to North America, representing the next generation of scooters from the iconic Italian brand. The 946 was presented alongside the Aprilia Caponord 1200 and Moto Guzzi California 1400 at Piaggio’s North American dealer meeting last week in Miami. No dates were announced for the Vespa 946 but odds are it will arrive on these shores in late 2012 as a 2013 models alongside the Caponord and new California.

The Vespa 946 was first unveiled at the 2011 EICMA show as the Quarantasei concept model. “Quarantasei” is Italian for 46, which represents the year 1946 when Vespa first began producing scooters, but the design represents more about Vespa’s future than it does the past.

The 946 maintains Vespa’s signature design elements while adding futuristic style elements from its metallic paint, hanging seat and swooping lines.

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Piaggio announced it is opening a new design center in Pasadena, Calif., to be headed by Aprilia RSV4 designer Miguel Galluzzi.

Roberto Colaninno, chairman and chief executive officer of  the Piaggio Group, announced plans for the new Advanced Design Center at a dealer convention for the Piaggio Group Americas in Miami, Fla. At the moment, North American customers usually have to wait a little longer before they receive new Piaggio models, with most models arriving on these shores months after they are available in Europe. Hopefully, the new design center will help new models arrive sooner.

The new design center will work closely with Piaggio’s main style center as well as research and development centers in Italy, China, India and Vietnam. This network forms part of what Piaggio calls an “intelligence globalization” policy. Continue Reading »

The Piaggio Group has opened a new engine production facility in Vietnam as part of the company’s plan to more than double capacity of its Vietnamese manufacturing to 300,000 units a year.

The new facility, located near Hanoi, will initially begin making 200,000 scooter engines a year, but production will scale up to 300,000 to match increased production at Piaggio’s existing vehicle assembly plant. Piaggio has big plans for the Asian market which, the company predicts, will make up 50% of the company’s revenue by 2014.

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The Piaggio Group reported a 9.8% increase in net income in 2011 thanks to rising demand for scooters and increased sales in Asia.

According to Piaggio‘s annual fiscal report, the Italian company made a profit of 47.0 million (US$62.6 million) in 2011, compared to a net profit of 42.8 million euros in 2010. Net sales reached 1.52 billion euros (US$2.02 billion) in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 2.1% from the 1.49 billion euros reported in 2010.

Motorcycle sales totaled 38,300 units, a 4.0% decrease from the 39,900 units sold in 2010. Scooter sales however increased 6.1% to 376,700 units from 355,100 units. Piaggio’s commercial vehicle division also saw a 2.1% increase to 238,300 units from 233,400 units.

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Vespa and Kate Spade New York are giving away two custom Vespa LX50 scooters to promote the fashion brand’s Spring 2012 collection.

The two Vespa scooters feature customized graphics by Australian artist Florence Broadhurst whose designs inspired Kate Spade’s spring collection.

The LX50 scooters, one is white with orange floral graphics, the other black with white graphics, were produced for the collection’s unveiling in October 2011, and they will soon be given away along with $500 gift certificates to Kate Spade New York.

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Here’s a novel way of breathing new life to an old scooter: turn it into furniture. That’s what an Australian designer and blogger did with this 1968 Vespa Sprint scooter.

The Reinventing Wheels blog takes old products and recycles them for new uses. Here, the blogger takes an old Vespa and transforms the rear into a simple workstation with a seat and a laptop stand. The front leg shield (see it after the jump) was converted into a lounge chair.

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In past years, the biennial Auto Expo in India slipped under the radar while the industry was focused more on shows such as EICMA in Italy and Intermot in Germany. But with India’s middle class starting to flex its financial muscle while other markets continue to struggle, the New Delhi show is becoming much more prominent, with major OEMs positioning themselves to claim a piece of the India’s 13 million vehicles-a-year market.

We’ve already looked at India-produced Royal Enfield’s new Thunderbird 500 and Hero Moto’s hybrid scooter concept which debuted at the Auto Expo, and today we’ll look at what the major international OEMs presented.

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