"Scooter Insurance" Reviews the latest new Vespa

November has been a big month for the scooter community with some of the hottest new scooters being unveiled at the Milan Motorcycle Show.  So, we sent our expert reviewer from scooter insurance down to check out the latest new offering from Vespa.

Vespa has been making scooters for 65 years now, but in 1946 the company was just getting started with their first production model based on a 1945 prototype named the MP6. Fast forward to the debut of the latest Vespa scooter design concept at the 2011 Milan Motorcycle Show, also known as EICMA, or "Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo Motociclo e Accessori" (just in case you wanted to know what those initials stand for). This annual show is primarily for motorbikes but also showcases a lot of scooters from all over the world. It's the place to be if you are a motorcycle or scooter manufacturer wanting your latest 2-wheeled creations to be seen by the global media, and hopefully bought by the European and international motorcycling public.

Italy, the land where millions of scooters roam the streets, and the home of the Vespa, the benchmark for all scooters made in the last 7 decades, is an appropriate place for the unveiling of the Vespa 46 or Quarantasei as they say in Italian. The Quarantasei is a concept based on the styling of that 1945 prototype, and is an intriguing glimpse into where Vespa's parent company Piaggio is going with its future design and styling for the Vespa. It's a simple, minimalist design with a modern fuel-injected air-cooled four-stroke engine, and amazingly for a 65 year old concept, is surprisingly modern. The new engine has 3 valves, comes in 125cc and 150cc versions and uses a catalytic converter to reduce pollution. The 125 puts out 11.6 hp and 7.6 lb-ft of torque, the 150 produces 13 hp at 8000 rpm and 9.3 lb-ft of torque at 6500 rpm. Gone is the noisy, smoky under-powered 2-stroke engine of 1946, replaced by an efficient 21st century power-plant, but still encased in that classic Vespa scooter shape.  Scooter insurance costs are expected to be low.

Given that the Vespa name is synonymous with retro scooters, it is quite poetic that the future of Vespa scooters goes right back to Vespa's humble beginnings in the 1940's. The Vespa name also means "wasp" in Italian. There is a story behind how this came to be. When Enrico Piaggio, the owner of the company first saw the wasp-shaped rear of the original 1946 scooter (revived in the Quarantasei), he uttered the immortal words "Sembra una vespa!" - "It looks like a wasp!". It is also said that the sound made by the Vespa's 2-stroke engine resembled that of a buzzing wasp. Another retro touch is the floating seat, which on the original looked somewhat like a bicycle seat but is somewhat more stylized on the Vespa 46.

With production expected to begin before the end of 2012, this latest Vespa is likely to be welcomed with open arms by Vespa aficionados, and anyone else who wants an iconic Italian scooter with pedigree and that indefinable Italian flair. While Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean and now Chinese scooter manufacturers all make workable imitations of the Vespa, there is nothing like riding the genuine article. Vespas may not be the cheapest scooters on the global market, but as in the 1940's, Piaggio is still at the forefront of scooter design this latest Vespa will certainly continue to attract eager buyers when the production version of the Vespa Quarantasei hits the streets in 2012.  We have a range of attractive scooter insurance packages for anyone who is interested in taking the leap and getting their hands on the new vespa.  Please do get in touch for more details.