75 years of Vespa Piaggios fully electric future

Status: 23.06.2021 8:15 a.m.

The Vespa, Piaggio’s most popular product, has been around for 75 years. Thanks to Corona, business is booming. Nevertheless, the Italian two-wheeler manufacturer wants to reposition itself strategically.

By Jörg Seisselberg, ARD-Studio Rome, currently in Milan

There is a good mood in Via Broletto. At the Milanese headquarters of Piaggio, not far from the famous cathedral, Maurizio Carletti is sitting in his office on the third floor and is bubbling over with optimism. “I hope this year will be the best,” says the Piaggio Vice President, “we are about to achieve results in 2021 that are really extremely remarkable.”

The figures for the first three months of the year: Piaggio sold over a fifth – 22 percent – more vehicles than in the same period of 2019 before the Covid crisis. Net sales are the highest in 14 years. These are golden times for the company.

Two-wheelers sought-after alternatives in times of crisis

One reason is that scooters and motorcycles are in demand in the corona pandemic – as an alternative to bus and train travel. Among other things, those responsible at Europe’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer had counted on it. At the plant in Pontedera, Tuscany, they kept working almost at full speed during the pandemic, apart from the weeks of complete lockdown in spring 2020. Now the Piaggio dealers have the vehicles that are in demand. In addition, analyst Monica Bosio says that Piaggio is benefiting from its platform strategy, which was introduced years ago, of lowering costs. The result: Piaggio is currently in the “best economic situation” since going public in 2006. “I would say,” says Bosio, “that the company is in excellent health”.

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There is still room for improvement in e-mobility

From the height of its current success, the traditional Italian company is working on perhaps the most important future task: not to miss the connection to e-mobility. In the market for electric scooters and motorcycles, Piaggio has to make up ground, with market shares only in the lower single-digit percentage range. “Maybe there was a bit of a delay. But Piaggio is in the process of catching up,” said analyst Bosio.

One reason for the “delay” is that Piaggio has always positioned its vehicles in the upper part of the market in terms of price. So far, this also applies to the new world of e-scooters. Piaggio launched an electric-powered version of the iconic Vespa – and only sold a few copies. The E-Vespa is almost twice as expensive as some competing products. Next month, Piaggio will make the next attempt and want to start selling its new electric model in Europe. It’s called Piaggio One, was presented at the Beijing Auto Show and targets the entry-level electric market, which is dominated by models with a purchase price of up to 3000 euros. “One allows us to go into a price segment that we cannot reach with the Vespa at the moment,” says Vice President Carletti, confidently adding: “Now we will be represented in this segment, but with Piaggio quality.” The brand’s reputation, European production quality, the close international network of dealerships and workshops as well as a now competitive price should give Piaggio a new boost in e-mobility.

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Conquer the sharing market with a cheaper model?

So far, the gasoline giant Piaggio is still lagging behind in the electric world. Also because sharing services and rental companies struggle with Piaggio’s expensive e-Vespa. This could change now, believes analyst Bosio: “With the Piaggio One you are trying to close the gap”. Sharing services have so far made up a large part of the e-scooter market in Europe. Piaggio is not competitive here in terms of price. “With Piaggio One, however, it cannot be ruled out,” says the analyst, “that there will be a presence again in this market.”

When asked, Piaggio Vice President Carletti, who is responsible for Europe among other things, does not rule out that Piaggio will also be active in the sharing sector with its new model. Getting active again – because six years ago the Italians tried their hand at the scooter sharing business. A model project with Piaggio MP3 scooters in Rome and Milan was quickly discontinued for cost reasons, shortly before the global sharing trend took off.

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Standard replacement battery as the key to success

At Piaggio, the question of batteries is crucial for the future of e-scooters. Those in charge of the Italian company dream of e-scooter filling stations where drivers don’t have to spend a lot of time charging their batteries, but can quickly exchange an almost empty battery for a full one. The Piaggio managers do not consider it realistic for customers to charge their scooters for half an hour at a charging station. Vice-boss Carletti admits that he himself becomes restless if he has to wait a few minutes for his predecessor to finish at the gas station.

Therefore, the principle in the future of e-electric should be: pull the batteries out of your scooter, put them in a compartment at an e-charging point and pull out another, charged battery. Uniform battery connections in the industry would be a prerequisite. That is why Piaggio has teamed up with competitors KTM, Honda and Yamaha in a consortium for the vision of the battery swap. The goal: to develop standardized batteries for all future e-scooters and e-motorcycles