Modern Vespa

I'm fairly new to this club so the question may sound ridiculous or may have been answered long ago but why doesn't Piaggio/Vespa advertise more? It is because they want to be elitist (in a good way) or what?

Granted, MV is abuzz with remarks about the MP3 so it may seem more popular than I think but it (MP3) has received a fair, if not limited, amount of magazine publicity but nothing really offered to the general public. If you're not reading Motorcyle magazines, it's possible to not know this scooter even exists.

If Piaggio is counting on word-of-mouth, that seems dicey at best. I know Vespa and to a lesser degree, Piaggio have good name recognition but I don't quite understand why they're not making a bigger splash about thier products.

Any ideas?

Their cash cow is the GTS, which pretty much sells itself.

The MP3 is geared towards urban customers who only have a car license, hence why it is so popular in places in like Paris.

I would also venture to say the MP3 is well-known in Europe, and the advertisement budget is focused there, especially now that there's some capable competition in the segment the MP3 targets.

The US market is all about the Vespa (and even that in limited fashion, but you see them far more in San Francisco), and the MP3 is here basically by accident.

I'd also be interested in seeing stats about how many MP3 500 owners don't have a motorcycle license. Many of us in here seem to have one.