Vespa, maker Piaggia goes public

MILAN, Italy – Nothing on wheels more personifies Italian style than the Vespa scooter, whose carefree spirit was immortalized by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck circling Rome’s piazzas in the 1953 film “Roman Holiday.”

The Vespa’s familiar curved frame has a found a place in design museums and in the hearts of Europeans, who first hopped aboard simply to get around after World War II and who still cling dearly to its handlebars as they zip through clogged streets.

…Piaggio aims to be multinational, with operations targeting vastly different markets with selected products, Colaninno said. Toward that goal, Piaggio has expanded into India, where Colaninno estimated it would take 50 years to fully exploit the market, and into China, through a joint venture with the group Zongshen in 2004.

The company also was considering entry into Brazil, South Africa and further into Asia.

Piaggio is targeting increased sales in the United States, where it has just a 1 percent market share for two-wheelers, worth about 50 million euros ($63 million) in revenue, Sabelli said. He said the company believes that could get up to 2 percent or 3 percent, tripling revenues.

AP