You read that right, Piaggio is planning to launch the Vespa 946 in India, priced at a whooping Rs. 8 lakhs. Yes, that’s RUPEES EIGHT LAKH for a scooter. We were the first to break the news about Piaggio’s plans of launching the Vespa 946 scooter in India, early last year. Later in 2013, Piaggio confirmed their plans with the company’s MD stating that the Vespa 946 is the ambassador of the Vespa. The Vespa 946 was expected to go on sale this fiscal year but will be launched by May as homologation formalities have delayed the scooter by a couple of months.
Piaggio showcased the Vespa 946 at the 2014 Auto Expo and there is no doubt this scooter is extremely attractive with the high attention to detail in the design. The biggest appeal lies in the floating seat which doesn’t have anything for the pillion to hold onto. The Vespa 946 comes the option of two engines globally – a 125cc generating 11.95 PS and 10.3 Nm or a 150cc pumping out 13.2 PS and 12.6 Nm, we in India will get the former. It also gets LED headlamps and tail lamps along with an LCD instrument cluster.
However it’s not all show that makes the Vespa 946 such an exquisite scooter. Piaggio has loaded this machine with a lot of safety features including traction control system, Anti-Slip Regulator (ASR), front and rear disc brakes and ABS. The scooter is being brought to India via the CBU route and is entirely assembled by hand. Piaggio has already started taking bookings of the Vespa 946. The only doubt we have is, who in their right minds would pay Rs. 8 lakhs for a 125cc scooter, even though it looks so stylish, you would be crazy to splurge that kind of money on something which completely redefines the word ‘overpriced’.
