Modern Vespa

Not by me!

Seriously, we're just talking about scooters here. Remember..."fun"?

It's all supposed to be fun, that's why we are here. I just think at times many forget that. Anyway I'm done and I'm going for a ride, it's nice here in Chicago and the weather may turn at any moment. Tomorrow it could be 45 degrees and rainy.

Here is an idea!

In 2010 we sold our only 4 wheeled vehicle ,the scooter/MC hauler pickup.
Saved us 4,000/yr in maintenance, tires, gas,tickets ( in SF), insurance and the hassle of moving it daily for street sweeping.

I bought another MC and scooter, sold a MC and scooter too : )

My herd helps to support two local shops with repair & service, as I am not a mechanic.

Buy a scooter , save a dealer



And it's Green

Laura

This also amazes me. I PM'd dealers from this very site, and got cold or no response at all. So, I went to the one dealer that actually seemed interested in making a sale (Long Beach Vespa) So, they got my business for simply taking the time to talk to me and respond to my inquiries. Couldn't have been any easier for the dealer really.

A good lesson for all dealers/shops.

Mine are , IMHO, the best in my area.
San Francisco Scooter Centre & Werkstatt Racing.
Laura

You miss the most important part re. that list.

That list means that there is a recall for that issue and it has been corrected. That is why it is on the NHTSA site.
The problem with Piaggio is, at the moment, there is no recall. Even though Piaggio is aware of the defective fuel pump issue.
So those vehicles on your list have had those issues attended to, while we have not.

No, due respect, but I don't think I did. My important point was not only Vespas have had these problems, without generally being considered 'unreliable'. I'm sure each vehicle recall listed started from customer feedback- and in due course a recall was issued.
Your important point is (if I may paraphrase) that failing fuel pumps are a recall issue, and a recall for these Vespas should be issued. I don't argue that, and I expect that in due time a recall will be issued for the current Vespa units (as has been suggested by one dealer); but without a suitable replacement pump in hand a recall simply can't work

I think we're on the same page.


I'm just saying that all those vehicles in your list are in the clear so to speak, because their issues have been addressed. Which is why you can find them on the NHTSA site.

The Vespa's fuel pump issues have not been addressed, which is one reason why the OP mentioned that he did not feel comfortable commuting with his.

Digression/thread jack/tangent off as I do not want this thread to veer into yet another fuel pump thread!

Hasn't replacement and suitability been addressed in the UK? I was certain I read that on MV or GTSUC.

Too late!

The Kymco Flying Kitty is the new Kymco scooter to go with the Kymco Like and the Kymco Yager.

It is a new model to compete with the Genuine Blackjack. It come with matte black paint with orange highlights, moving kit-cat eyes on the front fairing and a black plush tail that hangs back from the under seat area.

Has anyone looked at the 10 year sales numbers and taken an average. This would be a better representation of what is happening.

I agree that the numbers are down because of dealers being overstocked.

I'm not really worried, even though my Vespa shop dried up and blew away. It gave me a good excuse to invest in some tools and know how to be my own service dude.

How so? I think a lot of companies that are in deep trouble now might look pretty good over a 10-year span. Not saying this is the case with Piaggio Americas, just that steady growth and a one year boom may seem to mitigate the drop in sales when that's not an accurate reflection of their position now.

I've read that BMW motorcycle sales have been essentially flat over the past 18 months, as others have taken a dive. Here's another luxury, top dollar brand. How have they managed to stay stable when others haven't?

In my opinion Vespa could keep their brand prosperous in the USA simply by selling more of those damn leather roll bags that continue to dominate sales on EBAY. It's like they are made of gold but people buy them up. If I were Piaggio I think I would work on getting a few more out there for sale. They are pretty damn nice.

[jk] Jess stopped buying Piaggio & started buying BMWs? [/jk]

This started the entire tailspin we are in now. Dammit Jess



SDG

May just be some truth to that, not the jess part but I would say lots of riders here seem to up size to a larger ride after getting a scooter as a first ride.

in the detroit area, even with all the tens of millions of dollars in road repair, the roads are falling apart. the specs for road construction are terrible. it is just a continual cycle of deterioration and repair. if they spec'ed the roads closer to europe or even ohio, riding a scooter would not be as dangerous here.

that could have a huge impact on the viability of scooters as commuter vehicles.

some would love to blame unions, but they will build to any spec they are given. i would firmly put this one on the engineers for the road commissions.

it is a real problem.

and as far as moving up to motorcycles, a little bit more suspension travel and some wheel tire height makes one a lot safer on potholed roads.

even in my car, i have some HUGE suspension hits every day (straight up jarring). not the kind of thing that would make people want to go out and buy a vespa.

obviously this is only a regional issue.

Yes it is. It's a problem in MY region too

i just read the road report threat. i would not have thought that california (especially socal) would have such a high percentage of bad roads. i just figured good weather meant good roads.

Good weather often means triple digit, pavement softening temperatures and extremely high, year round traffic volumes taking it's toll on roadways.

Oh, and our state is broke too

Three years ago I bought a BV500 because I saw one on the Vespa/Kawasaki dealers lot. I had never and still have never seen a Piaggio BV 250 - 500 t.v. ad, and had never seen one on the street. Although t.v. advertising is espensive, it will work if the product is good (it is) and the price is right (?). Once the public sees your machines all over the streets and roads, you get a tremendous amount of FREE advertising. In the meantime, Piaggio needed to fix known problems a lot sooner than they did because good service and a factory's concern for its products sell. It is not good service or much concern when the owner pushes a machine home and repairs it (fuel pump hose) months before the factory issues a recall. I do see a few more scooters around but Piaggio isn't helping me much to inform questioners about what the BV's can do.

Well... We've gone 'round the bend a few times here before on Piaggio Americas' (lack of) advertising. It's nearly non-existent, even for the Vespa brand. Any ad or commercial you do see for any of the Piaggios is likely paid for-in entirety-by local dealers. As far as I know, it's been a long time since there was any co-op money flowing down to help pay for advertising.

I've always maintained that the Piaggio and Aprilia marks are under-promoted by the company and dealers. If the Vespa price point is hurting sales during a recession, why not promote their less-expensive brands? The scooters are great and many have the same or similar specs to their Vespa counterparts.

The challenge of advertising is that it needs to be effective. You can't just start taking out full page ads in local papers or spots on TV and expect to see huge returns.

Vespa's marketing efforts seem limited to occasional events, cross promotions with some movies (usually contests to win a 50cc scoot), and online promos that are unseen anywhere but the VespaUSA.com site. FWIW, they laid off almost all of their marketing staff in the past year.

There's also a demographic challenge here. Vespa's marketing usually targets 20somethings, many of whom can't afford to buy 75% of the product. The "urban hipster" image has very limited appeal and doesn't seem to represent demographics of actual Vespa buyers. Anyone here over the age of 35 and not in L.A. have any idea who CobraSnake is?

Cobra who?

I'll give you a clue: The basis for Vespa's big summer promotion!
http://vespausa.com/promotions.php?pid=33

Sadly, what Vespa didn't anticipate was that even among the "cool kids," there's been a huge hipster backlash.

http://hipsterhitler.com
http://hipsterorjesus.com/

So, way to hitch your summer promotion to this summer's biggest subject of viral ridicule. FTW!

Heres the perfect ad for a bill board next to the 405 & 101 during rush hour.

Hipsters We had 50 of them at the power plant this weekend they all seem to work in film.

Any chance they were riding Vespas?

Nope I'd say most of them were in very old cars like 1970-1995 or so they all had Iphones and just stand around trying to look important. the film crew that was on was a B crew so they need to get in some hours before the get the studio gigs, I don't think they get paid enough to buy a Vespa from what they tell me.

When gas prices were hovering almost 4 dollars per gallon, that's when I made the decision to dump my car and 'scoot' to work. I went to my local Vespa dealer. When I walked thru the door I found myself as the 15th person in line to buy a scooter. That day I bought the last 150 they had. It was a five hour buying experience. When the gas prices began to fall that waiting line diminished quickly. I think those possible scooter buyers went across the street and bought their Ford F150. Now, just a prediction that might offend some of you, but if an anti-nuke war breaks out in the middle east in the near future the price of oil will sky rocket. $4 a gallon will be considered a bargain. And, as before, you'll see lines out the door at your local bike dealership. It's just the way it seems to work here in the USA.

Oh.

Even a square old guy can see the folly of this line of marketing BS.

When is Piaggio going to get a clue?

High gas prices certainly ignited the boom in '08 but other conditions are much different now than then: lower wages, huge unemployment numbers, lower savings rates, less spending, etc. across the board. It's also much harder to get financing now.

I think the economic argument for Vespas when gas is high is actually a pretty poor one. Vespanomics is a myth for most people, especially those who, unlike you, aren't actually replacing a car with a scooter. The economic argument also favors other, less expensive but very reliable scooters. Most people who are looking to save money aren't going to go out and buy the most expensive product the promises this when there are a number of good alternatives.

The other big difference from '08 is the auto industry. There are more good sub-$20K, high MPG cars available now. More companies have hybrids out in a variety of models. Electric options are right around the corner. Neither the high gas prices not the scooter boom of '08 convinced many Americans that it was time to go carless. Should gas prices spike again, I think many will be looking for their savings in car form.

Others may have taken an unfortunate lesson away from the gas prices of '08: The prices are manipulated and they're temporary. OPEC likes to test and push our tolerance. Wait 4 months before selling the Hummer.

It had nothing to do with OPEC. It was traders gambling on oil futures.

But OPEC makes a clearer target for my finger pointing, ha. I oversimplified and laid blame at a convenient target, but I wouldn't say that OPEC was free of blame.

The reasons oil was trading higher that spring included fears that the US would attack Iran, unrest in Africa and concerns about possible spikes in demand. OPEC refused to increase production. While they were right that the problem wasn't a lack of supply, an increase may have calmed the markets and would have helped bring prices down. OPEC also said that should Iran pull their oil off the market, they could not replace those quantities. The markets went bonkers through all of this and prices kept going up. So OPEC isn't solely to blame but I think they had a part in pushing prices higher and not acting to stabilize things.

Traders were the ones directly pushing the prices up, though, for sure.

The point is that the forces and organizations that determine oil prices are engaged in political and financial games that cause the rises and falls. As sure as prices spiked in '08, they dropped before most Americans were pushed into making significant and lasting changes in how they consume gas. A '70s-style oil crisis wouldn't good for anyone involved-suppliers, traders, or consumers.

Agreed. You have to be really careful when you market your product by leveraging some "cool" segment of the population - it either backfires immediately if the marketing team didn't do their homework, or it backfires in the longrun when fashions change. I think it can work if the product has a short shelf life such as cell phones which will be obsolete in a year or two anyway. Better to come up with something that is fad independent and is not derivative.

Awesome photoshop work.

Hipsters? I don't know wearing top-siders will never be 'hip" in my book. They're prepster shoes that the "beard and ear whole" gang are trying to wear with ironic pretension. Unfortunately I believe they only succeed at of the pretentious part.

Wasnt me, I wish it was Id have a job.

Hipsters wear clothes the Thrift Stores threw away. And I thought they only rode mopeds and brakeless bicycles.