When Piaggio Vehicle Pvt. Ltd., launched the Vespa in India, in addition to the display of the Vespa in four different heart achingly beautiful shades, and a really long entertainment show the best part of the evening for Riot Engine was our conversation with Mr. Scotti. Flying to Mumbai from Pontedera, the technical and creative headquarters of Piaggio, Mr. Scotti blew us away with his unbridled enthusiasm.
Born in 1957, Davide Scotti holds a holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has been with Piaggio since January 2007. He has worked with Alfa Romeo and Fiat in various positions, and is no stranger to India, having acquired experience here during his stint at Fiat Auto Innovation and Product Design and Development areas. He was the Head of the Alfa Romeo Compact Car Development Centre before moving to Piaggio. Since joining the Piaggio Group in 2007 as Head of Commercial Vehicles Product Engineering & Development, he has coordinated the development of the Group’s new line of diesel engines for commercial vehicles, the renewal of the engine range (diesel, petrol, LPG, methane, electric), the restyling of Piaggio commercial vehicles for the European market and the planning of the new worldwide range of commercial vehicles, as well as the development of the NT3 compact.
He became Director of Product Development and Strategy in January 2010, with Group level responsibility on the product development activities.
Here are excerpts from the interview.
Riot Engine : Considering you are the Vespa as a ‘lifestyle product’ can you give us approximate volumes you expect the Vespa to generate?
Scotti: 150,000 initially, and we expect the sales to increase later in the future.
Now that we have the Vespa finally, when do you think you can give us other fantastic products from the Piaggo umbrella, like say the Gilera Runner ST125/200 and the Derbi GPR125/Cross City?
(Laughs) As you probably know, this is something that we will have to study, understand the markets and then make a decision. So, maybe in the future.
Vespa has experimented with hybrid technology on its range (the Vespa LX 50 HyS and the Piaggio X8 HyS ). Do you see the possibility of a production hybrid Vespa?
We had the MP3 Hybrid on display at the Delhi Auto Expo, and the response was tremendous. Hybrid technology is always a possibility.
The Vespa 946 ( also known as the Quarantasei when it was unveiled at EICMA 2011) is something we would love to see in flesh. Do you think its a possibility at all?
The Vespa 946 is our most advanced product. Lots of aluminium, leather seats and various other features will inevitably make the 946 one of our most expensive products when bring it into production in 2013. So I cannot say at the moment if we will bring the 946 to India.
Maybe at the AutoExpo 2014?
Maybe (smiles).
So there gentlemen, you have a world first scoop. The Vespa 946 is slated for production early 2013, and more importantly will probably have an aluminium monocoque in favour of steel used for eons on Vespas now!
Citing an interview that Rajiv Bajaj had with Money Control, some auto magazines have started speculating that Bajaj will launch an all new motorcycle and that what this motorcycle will be is a mystery. Knowing Mr. Bajaj’s penchant for giving interviews where he says things that are deliberately vague, we are taking this bit of news with a couple of jars of salt. It could be that the new bike is the Pulsar 200 NS which will be launched in the market in June or it could also be that the new Discover scooped by Autocar India is the motorcycle in question. Some of the more intrepid journalists have even been saying that this could be the new Boxer 100 which sells in the overseas markets and that Bajaj could be bringing this back to garner sales volumes since as yet the Boxer 150 has not found too many takers. We would discount the last theory completely (at least for now) since the Boxer 100 that Bajaj makes is for African markets and does not meet the emission norms of India. We strongly suspect that it is going to be the Pulsar 200 NS being introduced for sale rather than the new Discover.
There are unconfirmed reports that Garware Motors will be launching the Hyosung 250 GT in the first week of June, 2012. For sometime now there has been talk of the launch of the said model both in its naked and fully faired forms. The 25o cc motorcycle features a V twin engine that is supposed to put out about 27 PS of power but that is yet to be confirmed. Hyosung’s 250 will be the only second 25o cc motorcycle to feature two cylinders, the other being the Kawasaki Ninja 250R which is a parallel twin that pumps out 33 PS, significantly more than the Hyosung GT 250’s quoted power. But the motorcycle is also priced in the stratosphere and that has impacted negatively on the Kawasaki’s sale. And now Bajaj owning nearly half of KTM and rolling out KTM products, its focus is not so much on selling Kawasakis and this could be the opportunity for Garware-Hyosung to capitalize on. The success of the GT 250 will depend on how sensibly the motorcycle is priced, since the Honda CBR 250R is priced reasonably albeit featuring one cylinder less. But the power output is very similar to the Hyosung’s. Pricing is what will determine if Hyosung has a long term future or not.
Need to find your local Vespa dealer? We suggest you finish reading this article and then head to Vespa India Store Locator.
Piaggio Vehicles Private Ltd., (PVPL) launched the iconic Vespa in India on the 26th of April 2012. While the model is clearly the LX 125, PVPL clearly prefers to call it ‘the Vespa’ probably a move to build upon the popularity of the brand in India.
Piaggio will not compete with existing players, but will tap the potential premium scooter market. To this effect the product Piaggio Vehicles Private Ltd., announced that the Vespa will be sold at a price of Rs.66,661/- ex showroom in Maharashtra. You can expect pricing to be higher in other places due to the various taxes and octroi and dealer handling charges. Clearly the product is being positioned as a premium life style scooter.
Above : Mr. Ravi Chopra on the Giallo Lime (Lime Yellow) Vespa, Rosso Dragon (Dragon Red)
Mr. Ravi Chopra also announced that the Vespa in India will be powered by a new engine that is a single cylinder 125cc four stroke featuring a 3 valve head and putting out 10.06PS of power at 7500 RPM and torque output of 10.6 NM at 6000rpm. Power is transmitted to the rear wheel through a CVT transmission. The primary motivation to develop a new engine for India has been the requirement of the Indian consumer for the best mileage. Piaggio claims a 60 kpl figure as per test conditions.
It will come in eight colours such as Monte Bianco (Mountain White), Nero Volcano (Volcano Black), Giallo Lime (Lime Yellow), Rosso Dragon (Dragon Red), Rosso Chianti (Tuscany Wine Red ) and Midnight Blue have been mentioned.
The scooter will also come with specially designed central stand, art leather seats with special stitch patterns and an optional auto return side stand. It will use MRF’s Nylogrip tyres and its fuel efficiency has been claimed at 60kpl in standard test/riding conditions. The scooter will be available with 50 dealers spread across 35 cities and PVPL aims to hit a peak production capability of 12500 vehicles per month by September. There are currently no plans to export Vespas from the Baramati plant. The new generation global engine will also be manufactured in various other Piaggio plants in Europe and Asia.
Details
This beautifully crafted steel monocoque is the basis for a Vespa’s longevity, balance, rigidity and stability says Vespa. While we have to wait until we ride the scooter to verify that fact, we cannot deny how beautiful the shell looks even unpainted.
Much has been discussed about the new generation global engine with three valves, but that shouldn’t stop us from elaborating more. Variable Spark Timing Management, Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensing (MAP) a compression ratio of 10.6:1 and a high efficiency media air-intake filter are the factors delivering the 10.06PS power with a claimed fuel efficiency of 60kpl.
I have to admit, I needed the help of a gentleman in one of the finest Italian suits to help me figure out how to open the glovebox up front. Seems you press the chunky key into the slot and the glove box lid pops open.
Single sided trailing arm front suspension with antidive characteristics.
Vespa’s specially designed central stand.
Signature Vespa Chrome Grill and the Piaggio Badge.
Beautiful Vespa key on the art leather seats
Handlebar Grips on the Vespa, the switchgear.
Pop out hook for the luggage.
The Vespa will have both the electric and kick start options.
Choke Knob on the Vespa in India, and the clear lens 35W halogen headlamp.
Today the iconic Vespa brand of scooter makes its re-entry into India officially. The LX125 twist and go scooter will be the first to be launched and will be manufactured from parent company Piaggio’s manufacturing facility in Baramati near Pune. Riot Engine will bring you all the news and more so don’t forget to keep checking for interesting news and hopefully interviews as well.
It isn’t very often that this kind of buzz happens in the World Superbikes paddock. But the serious injuries suffered by factory Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz in the test at Imola have made it necessary for Kawasaki to look for another rider to take Lascorz’s place, since the contract that it has signed with Infront the promoter of World Superbikes makes it mandatory for the factory team to have two riders and bikes at all the races. The last race at Assen was seen as an exception but from the next race on it is imperative that Kawasaki field a second bike and rider.
This year Kawasaki have had a great start; by far the best in many seasons. Tom Sykes has been the man who has been in the thick of the action doing well at the first two race weekends but suffering at Assen with a blown radiator that forced retirement in the first race and bad wet weather set up that saw him only finish in sixth place. A couple of years ago or even last year sixth for Kawasaki would have been considered great but with the bar raised for this year that is seen as a disappointment. Joan Lascorz while being a talented rider has not matched the pace of Sykes in the first two events and the crash at Imola has probably destroyed his race career once and for all. Though Provec, the Spanish team that manages the factory Kawasaki Racing effort has not been very forthcoming about the actual situation of the rider, news leaks from other sources have suggested that Lascorz’s arms and hands are paralyzed due to a spinal injury. Subsequent reports have suggested that Lascorz may get movement in his arms back but the doctors attending to him are not too confident of movement returning to his hands.
Whatever the long term prognosis for Lascorz maybe it is clear that he is not likely to return to racing at least for this year. Kawasaki have quietly started searching for a replacement for Lascorz and since Provec is a Spanish team they want a Spanish rider. Lascorz himself is a Spaniard. There have been rumours that David Salom who now rides for Pedercini Kawasaki in World Superbikes has been approached and that he has turned down the offer, citing reasons of loyalty to Lucio Pedercini who has given Salom a ride when he did not have one. Salom is not only a Spaniard but also has worked with Provec in the past when Provec was managing the Kawasaki World Supersport effort till last year. If this bit of news about Salom refusing the offer is true then Kawasaki will have to look for other riders.
The rumour mill the World Superbikes paddock has gone into overdrive predictably. The riders who are now being touted as possible replacements are Luca Scassa, Anthony West and Noriyuki Haga. Anthony West had connections with Kawasaki when he rode for them in MotoGP but that was when the team was managed by Michael Bartholemy who now manages Marc VDS team in Moto2. At the beginning of the season West was offered at ride by the Speed Master team on their Aprilia ART CRT motorcycle but was jettisoned when he could not cough up sponsorship monies. That saw West ending up in British Superbikes before he got a call from the QMMF Moto2 team to replace fellow Australian Damian Cudlin. West had been happy in Moto2 riding in the past two seasons on an MZ chassis powered by the controlled Honda engine. It is most unlikely that he will move to World Superbikes so soon. The other two riders supposedly in contention are Haga and Scassa both of whom are riding in the British Superbikes series.
Scassa has ridden with privateer Pedercini team using the Kawasaki ZX10R in the year 2009 and his performances were not very impressive. Haga has been a frontline rider in World Superbikes first with Yamaha and then with Ducati before being forsaken by the World Superbikes paddock. He is definitely the most talented Superbike rider to never win a World title; the Stirling Moss of World Superbikes. But Haga has plenty of experience and natural talent and even more importantly he has won many races and one occasion came close to clinching the World title itself. He would be good for Kawasaki especially now that it is on the upswing. But will he be released from his BSB contract and more importantly does Kawasaki want to invest in a 40+ aged rider are the questions that need to be answered.
For a while now the Fabia Scout, essentially a tarted up version of the Fabia, has been seen with registration plates indicating that it is a test vehicle. When the images first appeared there was buzz on the internet based auto mags and blogs about the launch of the vehicle, before the sightings of the test mule simply came down to zero and along with it the buzz. However, Skoda has actually quietly launched the Fabia Scout in the Indian market with prizes starting from Rs. 6.79 lakhs ex showroom Delhi for the petrol version and going upto Rs.8.10 lakhs ex showroom Delhi for the diesel version.
What distinguishes the the Scout from the regular Fabia are side cladding made of plastic, a slightly different front and rear bumpers. The money that Skoda is asking for the Fabia Scout is rather steep putting it in the territory of C segment sedans and it would be interesting to see if we thrifty Indians who want the full bang for the buck perceive this product as value for money.
Circuit: Terlaemen, Zolder Date: 22 April 2012
The Exim Bank Team China Porsche duo of Matt Halliday and Mike Parisy under the able guidance of Bernhard Mühlner, produced a superb drive in challenging conditions to secure a narrow victory in the Championship Race at Zolder. The Porsche pair’s win followed their third place in the Qualifying Race the previous day and lifted them to second in the drivers’ standings.
#18 Vita4One, #37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport, #9 Exim Bank Team China, #1 Hexis Racing on the starting grid at the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship : Round 2 – Zolder, Belgium
The race, declared wet by race control, began on a damp track. As the field set off, the circuit though was still completely dry – it did not start to rain until the second lap. Mühlner’s risky call on the grid was a correct one, despite a fully dry start to the race. Those cars which had started on slicks either pitted or fell a long way back.
Before the opening of the pit stop window, the sector times showed that some of the cars which had stayed on slicks and were now at the back, were starting to lap more quickly and Bernhard Mühlner took the second risky decision of the race in deciding to bring Halliday in right at the start of the pit stop window and send Parisy out on slicks, notwithstanding the fact that the circuit was still damp.
The competition waited a few laps for the circuit to dry out more by the time all the stops had been completed, Parisy was in the lead as he had been much quicker early on using slicks. The final 10 laps, Parisy had to defend hard against the heavy attacks of BMW’s Yelmer Buurman competitor but held him off brilliantly to bring home the win.
Series promoter Stephane Ratel brought the components together: Exim Bank China is the sponsor of the ambitious project, Mühlner Motorsport is the team running it, supplying the cars and equipment and responsible for all technical and strategy issues, and the drivers.
Vita4One team boss Bartels, declared the team “back in business” as Michael Bartels and Buurman followed their win in the Qualifying Race to finish second in the Vita4One Z4 No.18 car picking up 18 precious points.
Toni Vilander / Filip Salaquarda duo in the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia finished third having stormed through the field from 13th on the grid after starting on dry tyres.
Piloting the throaty No. 37 SLS AMG GT3, Nicky Pastorelli and Thomas Jager driving for the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team finished fourth. Pastorelli lost a few seconds after a spin when the cold tyres touched the white line on the damp track. If not for that incident, the team could have very well finished third.
The team at Riot Engine has been waiting with bated breath for the MP4-12C which makes its racing debut this year to prove its capabilities. While the last round at Norago didn’t do much for the Hexis Racing team which has fielded the McLaren car this year, having raced with the Aston Martin DB9RS last year, Zolder was a delight with the No.1 MP4-12C of Frederic Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp finishing fifth.The No.2 car was seventh.
Maxime Martin in the Valmon Racing Team Russia Aston Martin DBRS9. Starting from ninth on the grid, the Belgian sliced through the field to lead the race by lap 7. He had held a lead of over 12.6 seconds as the pit window opened but as the dry-shod cars came into their own, notably the Ferrari No.3 of Vilander, the gap had shrunk to three seconds. Martin handed over to Alexej Vasiliev, the Russian finding the going a little tougher with the No.7 car eventually finishing 12th.
The stars of the last round at Norago, the Belgian Audi Club WRT Team chose to start the race on slick tyres but were disadvantaged at the start in the greasy conditions. Stephane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor in the No.32 had a scrape with Oliver Jarvis in the No.33 R8 LMS with 10 minutes left. Ortelli survived unscathed to finish sixth but the incident cost Jarvis and Frank Stippler two places at the time and they finished 10th.
Reiter Engineering’s Lamborghini LP600 finshed 8th and 13th, while the Valmon Racing Team Russia Aston Martins finished 12th and 15th.
While the Exim Bank Team China and Vita4One took one slot each on the favoured end of the standings, the other Porsche took last place finishing 17th and the other Z4 finished 14th.
The Ford GT fielded by Sunred finished 16th.
Driver Quotes:
Parisy, who held off a late charge from BMW’s Yelmer Buurman in the closing stages to win by less than a second was overjoyed with the result. “It was one of the best days of my life,” the Frenchman said. “It was an incredible race. There was a lot of pressure at the end but I just had to keep it tight and not make any mistakes. It’s a great result for Exim Bank Team China. We had the right strategy on tyres and it paid off.”
Halliday added: “To put the Porsche in P1 against this very competitive field is a great feeling. We had to manage our tyres, stop at the right time and make all the right choices – and that’s what we did. We are a young team but this result is a tremendous boost.”
“We are now heading in the right direction following the disappointment at Nogaro,” said Vita4One team boss Bartels. “We are back in business in the championship but we have a lot of homework to do for the next race.“We have a break now between GT1 events before Navarra and we will concentrate on making less mistakes and improving the set-up of the car. The relationship with BMW is still young after so many years with Maserati and we are learning together, finding out about each other but we are definitely heading the right way.”
“I was one of the only guys with slick tyres and I had a pretty hectic 15 minutes with the rain so I had to use my Finnish rally experience a bit,” Toni Vilander driving for AF Corse said.
“I’m happy with the car, and how things went in general but I made a mistake in my stint, with the cold tyres on the damp track, I touched the white line and I went off,” ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport’s Pastorelli said. “We lost some seconds there and without that we could have finished third.“We scored points which is important, you have to be consistent throughout the year, and we are improving step-by-step.” said Marc Basseng.
Hexis Racing McLaren team boss Philippe Dumas was delighted with fifth place for the No.1 MP4-12C of Frederic Makowiecki (FRA) and Stef Dusseldorp (NLD). The No.2 car was seventh.“We have had some very good moments in this Hexis team since 2008, we won a lot of races, and the Championship, but today is the same feeling as a victory,” he said.“We worked so hard at the beginning of the year and everybody knows that it is a difficult situation with the McLaren GT. We share a very good relationship with McLaren, we have had a lot of problems in the beginning, but we have fixed it and today is a perfect result for us.“We are more determined than ever. Before the weekend my briefing with the team was to finish with both cars in both races and try to get around P5. The next step is to stabilize the reliability and get the car on the podium.”
Belgian Audi Club WRT Team Frank Stippler said “I think the choice today was okay, and we might have claimed fourth or fifth, but unfortunately Stephane (Ortelli) crashed into my team-mate, Oliver Jarvis, and that is not the best way to finish the race, but it is part of racing. “Perhaps it is not the best idea to try and pass on such a wet and oily part of the track, but in the end we are human and mistakes happen. It was perhaps not the best weekend for WRT, we were the heroes in Nogaro, and here it just has not gone very well. We have some points, but it could have been better.”
Thanks to the raft of changes introduced in all the three classes of GP racing chassis makers have comeback into the spot light for the last couple of years, mainly in Moto2 and with this year in Moto3 and MotoGP as well. The first year of Moto2 saw more than a dozen chassis makers with the Swiss Suter turning out to be the most successful, but in the second year the chassis of choice was the German Kalex. All along Buckingham based British chassis maker FTR has had its share of customers even after the whittling down of chassis makers in the second year of Moto2. This year when Moto3 has replaced the two stroke 125 cc class, Honda and KTM have been the two proper factories to offer fully built motorcycles along with the option of engines that could be fit into custom chassis.
After the first race of the season it appears that Honda’s chassis has not come upto rider expectations while the Honda powered FTR of Maverick Vinales won the race. This has forced most Honda teams including the San Carlo Gresini team to abandon the Honda chassis and go for the FTR from this week’s Jerez GP on. But it has not been all gain for FTR with Spanish rider Julian Simon choosing to get rid of FTR and go for a Suter while in MotoGP the Spanish BQR team that runs the Avintia Racing effort with an FTR chassis and Kawasaki ZX10R engine has decided to experiment with a carbon fibre chassis (carbon fibre+aluminium actually) developed by the Spanish firm Inmotec. Inmotec was originally supposed to have taken on the aborted MotoGP effort of BMW and were scheduled to race in 2010 along with FB Corse another privateer team. Neither made onto the grid but when the CRT class was announced the BQR team started testing the Kawasaki engine in the Inmotec chassis (some even claimed that they were evaluating the old 800cc engine of BMW origins) and the FTR chassis before plumping in for the FTR.
Yonny Hernandez, the Columbian rider has surprised everyone at Qatar by finishing fourteenth in the race and picking up points. The other rider Ivan Silva did not do as well. And now for the GP at Jerez while Hernandez’s steed will remain unchanged, the bike of Silva will feature the Inmotec chassis which is a combination of carbon fibre and aluminium. In fact, it is being touted that in the long term the BQR team will switch to Inmotec because they have said in the past that they will build an all Spanish developed team. Needless to say, the engine will be the question mark since there are no motorcycle makers of consequence in Spain.
