Modern Vespa

Just got back from a week in Portugal so I wanted to share a few vespa pictures with you guys.

The first is an awesome two-seater.

These were all over the place.

An exact replica, color and all, of my PX150

This was at the scooter shop in Coimbra. The guy there was great. I spoke in Spanish and he replied in Portuguese. I told him about my Vespas and how hard it was to find a manual in the U.S. He said they were easier to sell there than the automatics. He gave me the Primavera brochure you can see in the picture. Great guy, great city, great store!

If you can see the price tag you can tell that there must be a very low profit margin for selling Vespas in the U.S. The Primavera will cost less here and have fewer buyers is my best guess. It sure looks good though. And the brochure emphasizes its 946 roots.

Spent a lot of time in Portugal for work. Sadly, I was not into Vespa's in those days. I had not yet been infected by a love for all things Italian

piglet

Keep in mind that sales tax and/or VAT are included in the retail price of a scooter over here, not added on as in the US. Margins are slim everywhere.

Good point Aviator, it's no wonder it's hard to keep these dealerships open. Also, it is very easy to run a car up to 50 - 100K miles and then you want a new one, but I assume most people are not replacing their Vespas quite as often if at all, so a dealership may not be getting repeat business. And they probably don't get that much service business either because the owners that are really into riding learn to do it themselves and those that aren't don't need much service.