India is a country where the scooter rules supreme, and there has been nearly a year of anticipation for the arrival of the Vespa LX125, the company’s best selling model in Europe.
The LX125 will be manufactured locally in Baramati and feature a new engine that is twice as fuel efficient as the standard engine on Vespas in Europe. The price for the scooter has been set at around 20% higher than equivalent scooters from Honda and Suzuki, reflecting the premium image that the brand carries. It will be available from 50 dealerships in 35 cities in the next few weeks.
Vespa is the second of three brands that Piaggio will be launching in India. It recently started selling Asprilla RSV4 motorbikes through a handful of dealerships. In the next year or so it plans follow up Vespa scooters with its slightly lower priced Piaggio brand.
The 32 million Euro factory in Baramati is expected to hit its capacity of 150,000 units a year very quickly. Piaggio has already hinted that they are planning to double its capacity by the middle of 2013.
Around 2.5 million scooters are sold a year in India, and that rate is growing at approximately 20% a year.
asian business daily
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