Modern Vespa

Brown_Beret that must be a motor activated center stand! How else would you engage it?! That would be cool; push a button and up it goes! The grocery hook does not fold either, does it? I agree with Benito about the rims; no love for those.

1946 without the 1. That's my half-assed guess.

The remarkable thing about this new model is that there are no visible screws.

Yup, except for the 12 you can see while seated on it, the two at the back above the lincense plate, the 6 on either side by the seat lock, the four on the back where the rack mounts, and the two holding hook under the seat.

We can forgive Max for missing the obvious

This is why I like you.

Yeah I am not sitting on it. You like Patrick right? (or am I included?)

...if you have to ask

***wink right back at ya!***

I guess more push-fit panels like the lower side panels on the GTS. I wonder about the indicator lenses and horn cover...maybe discreet screwdriver slots to pop them out like the Piaggio badge on the GTS horn cover.

I had a good look at this at the NEC bike show today.

Apparently there are only 50 coming to the UK next year in black, white or yellow. I was told £7200 plus on the road costs, so this very clearly isn't an everyday scooter but a real collectors item/fashion statement.

Ah man, I was looking forward to owning one of these, but for £7200+ I could get a small family car, that's if I had the money...which I don't!

50 machines is such a small amount too, I wonder why the volume is so low, perhaps we'll get a more watered down regular production model afterwards?

Note to Piaggio, I want to give you my money, I really do, I'd happily pay £3200 for a 946 150cc in white but you're not making this easy for me or you, don't make me buy a Beverley 350!

As I said to the chap on the stand, I'd rather buy a GTS 300 and an LXV 125 for the same money, or more likely a Triumph America.

Going to throw out a wild-ass guess here.

Vespa made a big deal of the GT60, and it was limited.

Then they re-introduced it as the GTV and it didn't really matter.

I know anything is possible. But I find it a bit hard to believe they would make quite this much hype over the 946 if they were only going to produce such a rediculously small run of them. I'd be willing to bet we'll see it, in the US and elsewhere, with a slightly different name after this "limited edition."

I do like that the legshield trim is actually chrome.

It is possible that it could become a production model in the future, but with significant changes to get the price down. Aluminum headset, aluminum side panels, chrome legshield trim, more standardized saddle, would all be replaced by plastic parts vinyl. The wheels would go away and be replaced by something much cheaper to produce.

I could be wrong, but it looks like this time they are doing more with the limited issue than changing paint colors.

If they only sold 50 in each country at those margins, they would probably make more margin than selling 150 production bikes in each country.

In any case, I'm always glad to see new things being produced, whether I'm the intended customer or not. More choices are better than fewer choices.

Yep, though they won't admit it now, I'd expect that we will see a watered down version of this in a couple of years time with all steel bodywork instead of aluminium, plastic instead of chrome and so on.

It doesn't make economic sense to do all the design and production work only to sell very limited numbers, even at ££££.

Damn. That's a bummer. If you guys are getting that few, we can't be getting too much more.

Thanks for pics Dr

At £7200, I just got a whole lot less interested

And some of those lines now look a little iffy to me

Bonus points to Piaggio for knowing that a big rule of demand is scarcity, but really, where has the extra £3k gone to justify the 946 being 40% more expensive than the GTS300?

I don't see it myself...

At GBP 7,200 (~USD 11,500 today), perhaps this is another one of those hidden Piaggio "screws" Max failed to notice.

Really? The 946 has to cost x-as much as-x $2,000 MORE THAN one of the new BMW maxi-scooters?

(edited after I looked up the $9,500 cost on the BMW USA site)

Wait a minute. Triumph (a UK company) sells "Triumph America" models in the UK???? Now THAT'S confusing!

-Dan

You really can't do a straight translation of the price of a vehicle based on the exchange rate. This mistake has been made by countless people across countless websites, knees jerking reflexively at the ridiculous numbers that it produces. It is always wrong.

Manufacturers price their vehicles on a per-country (or per-currency) basis based on what the market will bear and independent from any other pricing in other currencies. The exchange rate has nothing to do with it.

Jess, of course you're literally correct about the number in my post. But from the (quoted) 40% premium price to the UK GTS 300 price, we could reasonably guess that in the US,the price for the 946 might be USD $ 8,400, closer to the BMW than to any other vehicle of similar capability [to the 946]. The point I take is that this is being priced like jewelry, not like similarly capable sport or transportation vehicles.

Note to Piaggio: introduce a 350-400cc Vespa at that price, and maybe we'll talk. Maybe.

Yep.

http://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk/motorcycles/range/cruisers/america

Absolutely. A more useful rule of thumb is that our £ price is generally not too dissimilar to your $ price. So I'd expect you to be paying circa $7k for the 946.

Vespas seem to be one area where we don't pay more than the other side of the atlantic.

A GTS300 Super shows as $6199 + dealer charges + sales tax on the US site.
A GTS300 Super shows as £4049 + dealer charges but this is including our 20% VAT.

Take dealer charges out of the equation (I believe we also pay less than you do) and apply a straight conversion of $6199 to get £3866. Add the VAT and you would get £4639 so we are effectively getting a 15% better price than the states.

Can someone confirm what a genuine "out the door" price would be on a GTS 300 Super in the US, as I could buy one here for £4139 without trying to negotiate.


Moving down a step, an LX125 is £3099 here or $4599 in the US
Again , do the straight conversion to get £2868, plus 20% VAT would be £3439 - a 10% difference.


Using a similar calculation, if we are actually paying 10% *less* than the equivalent dollar price then that would give you $12500 + plus dealer charges for the 946.

I have just been to the motorcycle live show in Birmingham (England). They had a very nice yellow metal flake example of the 946. However the Piaggio guys had been told nothing whatsoever about the scoot. Also a sign on the stand said 50 will be available in the UK, presumably during 2012.

It will be interesting to see what panels are aluminium bearing in mind that it still has a steel body. It looks like a large frame scooter to my eyes but no one was allowed near it.

As I have a GTS 300 which is currently suffering from the infamous orange warning light it will be tempting to have a less complicated Vespa. i.e. no radiators. However the turn signal seems to small to be very effective.[/u]

In response to your enquiry above, a new GTS 300ie lists for $6599 USD, a new GTV 300ie lists for $6999 USD, as points of relative comparison.

They better hurry....

hmmmmm....very near to what i have estimated, price of 12k USD from the very start. you guys forgot the shipping cost!

lets wait and see.

That's a bit tricky, actually.

"Out the door" prices would include tax, licensing fees, and in some areas, registration fees. Every single one of those fees varies depending on what state, county, or even city that you're in. A standard "out the door" price, without any sales or anything, would be different if you got a GTS in Los Angeles versus New York City, or anywhere in between. And that's not to mention a good majority of dealers including their own setup fees on top of the price as well.

A power operated center stand would be very classy. One of my friends has a BMW Cruiser with that feature.

That's what I thought you might say, thanks.

While we quite often pay more than we should, at least for cars and bikes we have a manufacturers list price which is set in stone as the most you'll pay without any nasty surprises.
The "on the road price" used in adverts includes delivery to the dealer, a fee for registration of the vehicle, the first years Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax for short) and a set of number plates, all of which are fixed and known costs.

Like I said above, when it comes to Vespas, we do for once get a better deal than some other countries.

Cars on the other hand....

I have heard an unofficial price of 10k from a US dealer. Time will tell.

Very unofficial because there was no indication from Piaggio Americas about it.
My thought is that until the bike is 100% EPA, CARB and DOT approved, we won't know the final price on the Vespa.
But I think it will be closer to $7-$8k than $10k.

$10K?
pass.

I'll pass at $7,000. Sorry but I'd by a new GTV 300 before I'd spend that for a 150 no matter how much of a limited edition it might be.

Didn't realise Vespas were so expensive in the US, Dr Z.
Was basing my comments on the prices my folks paid for cars when they lived over there for a couple of spells.
Thanks for putting me right (and I'm go smacked that Vespas are so 'spenny. And they don't even get ABS, etc. WTF?!!! My sympathies to our US brethren)

We may not get ABS, but at least we get a completely dysfunctional evaporative emissions system that often renders the bike unusable.

Oh, wait...