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| Edited By: Yuga Chaudhari |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 05:27 AM IST
Piaggio Vehicles on Thursday launched the Vespa scooter in India, marking the return of the iconic Italian brand after over a decade in the market, which is of late seeing a renewed traction for scooters. Aiming to create a new premium segment in scooters, Piaggio has unveiled the LX125 model priced at Rs66,661 (ex-showroom Maharashtra). It is planning to bring in variants of the existing model and new ones further.
The company has built an annual capacity of 150,000 units at its Baramati plant near Pune, which can be ramped up to 300,000 units.
Ravi Chopra, CMD, Piaggio Vehicles, said, “In September this year, we will be producing 12,000 scooters a month, which is as good as reaching full capacity. We have already started work on doubling our capacity to 300,000 units per annum.”
The company sold 151,000 units of Vespa worldwide and is looking at similar sales target in the Indian market. With the growing potential of the scooter segment, India is expected to be one of the key markets for Piaggio within the Asian countries for Vespa sales.
The Vespa manufacturing plant at Baramati is the third plant after Italy and Vietnam. The company is also manufacturing a completely new engine for Vespa at its Indian plant. “Later, these engines will also used for its products in Europe and other countries,” said a Piaggio official.
The company has invested €30 million (Rs208 crore) for setting up the Baramati plant, while another €20 million (Rs139 crore) will be spent on doubling the capacity.
On premium pricing, the company said that its pricing strategy varies across countries and was lower in India. The price of a Vespa is almost 40-50% higher in Vietnam and 50% higher in New York.
According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association, the industry sold almost 25 lakh scooters in FY12, registering a growth of 25%. The segment is expected to keep growing at about 18-20%.
On export plans, the company said it will first cater to the Indian market and then look at exports. “As of now we might find capacity inadequate for the Indian market,” said Chopra.
