Piaggio’s Vespa to run on Indian roads again

NEW DELHI - The iconic Vespa scooter will be back on Indian roads some time next year, 12 years after it was withdrawn by the Italian two-wheel major Piaggio, that had launched it in the country in the 1950s in collaboration with the Firodias.

“We plan to invest 30 million euros ($38 million) to set up a manufacturing plant for Vespa scooter brand in India,” said Ravi Chopra, chairman of the Italian company’s Indian subsidiary, Piaggio Vehicles.

“We will launch the Vespa scooter by the end of 2011,” Chopra told reporters on the margins of the annual conference here of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Vespa was made famous by the 1952 Hollywood blockbuster “Roman Holiday” in which Audrey Hepburn side-saddled Gregory Peck’s Vespa on a romantic ride through Rome.

The scooter itself derives its name from Italian for wasp, and was so called because of the high-pitched noise its engine emits, as also the shape — a thicker rear, a narrow waist and a steering handle that look like antennae.

In India, the scooter had a chequered run. It ruled the Indian roads for 20 years, in collaboration with the Firodias. But the Indira Gandhi government declined to renew its licence in 1971. The famous Bajaj “Chetak” was an outcome of that decision.

The company made a re-entry in 1983, this time in collaboration with the Lohias of the LML group but had to leave the shores again in 1999 after a protracted battle with the Indian partners.

Now, the company has entered India on its own. Piaggio officials said the new manufacturing facility will come up in Baramati, Maharashtra, and have a production capacity of 150,000 units per annum.

The new Vespa will be available with a 125 cc gearless engine. Piaggio’s Chopra also said the company will also launch a light commercial vehicle in the category of 0.5 tonnes in the next two-three weeks.