Higher displacement Vespa for Indian market under development - Report

18/06/2019 - 16:30 Vespa GTS 300, Vespa VXL 150, Piaggio, Vespa Suvil Susvirkar

A report last month claimed that Piaggio Vehicles is developing a new motor for its Aprilia scooters. Piaggio Vehicles' managing director and CEO, Diego Graffi, told Autocar Professional that the company would introduce a sub-200 cc motor for the Aprilia scooters in the Indian market. Now, another report claims that the new, sub-200 cc engine may power Vespa branded vehicles as well.

Vespa GTS Super 300 ABS Sport Edition front left quarter at 2017 Thai Motor Expo — Piaggio will use the new, sub-200 cc engine on Aprilia and Vespa branded scooters in the Indian market. The new motor will be developed in Italy.

Autocar India reports that Piaggio Vehicles is working on a higher displacement Vespa scooter for the Indian market. The new Vespa scooter, which will reportedly be powered with an engine bigger than 150 cc but smaller than 200 cc, is expected to arrive in the H2 of 2020 or early 2021. The launch of the sub-200 cc Vespa will be preceded by the sub-200 cc Aprilia scooter. Graffi said in last month’s interview:

It is going to be a big jump from what we currently see in the Indian market and will also preview what could come in the market afterwards. We are developing the scooter right now, and it is going to be a fully customised Indian development. Whatever we develop in India in collaboration with the R&D centre located in Italy, is specifically meant for the Indian market.

The details are limited, but we expect to hear more information at Auto Expo 2020. Piaggio Vehicles may display the sub-200 cc engine powered Aprilia scooter at the biennial motoring event. The R&D centre in Italy will develop the motor specifically for the Indian market. The motor will be BS-VI compliant and thus pack fuel injection system and an electronic control unit among other hardware.

Apart from introducing a new, sub-200 cc engine for our country, Piaggio Vehicles is working on updating its current line-up to comply with the upcoming emission norms. A report from earlier today (18 June) claimed that the company would introduce its first BS-VI compliant scooter by October 2019 while the complete line-up would be updated by January next year. Regular readers would know that the Government of India has set April 2020 as the deadline to upgrade all vehicles to the BS-VI standards.