Piaggio plans to make a debut in mass market scooter segment in India next year

Piaggio, the Italy based two wheeler maker, is all set to roll-out a mass market scooter in the Indian market by the end of next year. The company is excited with the overwhelming response received by their Vespa brand by the Indian buyers.

The company is planning to invest Rs 150 crore in the country to ramp-up the capacity at their Baramati plant in Maharashtra. The company had launched their Vespa LX125 at Rs 66,661 (ex-showroom in Maharashtra).

Speaking to PTI, Mr. Ravi Chopra, Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL) Chairman and Managing Director, said, the scooter segment in India is growing at a tremendous pace. No company would like to miss this opportunity and for that we need to be in the mass market segment." He added, "It takes about 18-20 months to up with a product and our expectation is that by end of 2013 we would be ready to launch it.

As per the figures released by the SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), the scooter segment in India registered a growth of 24.55 per cent to 25,62,841 units in 2011-12.