Piaggio to sell Vespa scooter from today

Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, the Indian arm of Italian scooter maker Piaggio and C SpA, will start selling its Vespa scooter in the Indian market from Friday. Piaggio has priced the gearless Vespa LX 125 at Rs. 66,661 (ex-showroom, Pune), hoping to create a niche, premium category in the 2.5 million-a-year scooter market in India. The scooter, to be positioned as a lifestyle product rather than a commuter’s choice, will be sold through exclusive showrooms across 35 cities. The Italian firm will form exclusive Vespa fan clubs in India. “There is no premium segment in the scooter market today, hence we see there is potential market for consumers who are looking at making a statement,” said Ravi Chopra, chairman and managing director of Piaggio Vehicles. Piaggio will produce the scooters at the company’s facility in Baramati, Maharashtra. Chopra said the facility can produce 150,000 units annually and plans are afoot to double capacity in a year’s time. Piaggio, which has already invested €35 million (around Rs. 243 crore today) in the facility, plans to pump in an additional €20 million to augment capacity. Piaggio has entered the Indian market with a new gearless scooter that effectively creates a new premium segment that didn’t exist before. Close to 17 million units of the Vespa have been sold in Europe since it made a debut in 1946. According to Chopra, the market potential in the scooter segment in India, which has been expanding at 20% yearly, is huge and Piaggio hopes to reach its full production capacity of 12,000 units per month by October. While market leader Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd sold 1,224,599 units in the year ended March, No. 2 TVS Motor Co. Ltd sold 496,896 units in the same period. The launch of Vespa scooters is Piaggio’s maiden venture in the Indian market without a local partner. More than four decades ago, Piaggio licensed the production of Vespa scooters to Bajaj Auto Ltd. The joint venture ended in 1971. Subsequently, the company partnered with LML Ltd in 1983 to make and sell scooters in India. It exited the venture in 1999, when LML acquired Piaggio’s stake.