Mid-November 2013 and Piaggio Vietnam launched a new Vespa GTS on the local market. This is a locally produced scooter in their Vietnamese factory and specifically for their local market (European, American, Australian, NZ Vespas for example are produced in Italy) and as well as taking advantage of cheaper labour rates and presumably more competitively sourced components, it also uses a locally produced 125cc 3-valve air-cooled engine that the Vietnamese factory produce for their Vespa LX and new Primavera range (also only for the local market).
This means therefore that Vietnamese scooterists can enjoy the larger modern Vespa but at a cheaper cost than if a water-cooled version was exported there from Italy. This is something that the local market is understandably excited about and it will be interesting to see what the factory there does next. Whilst it’s unlikely that a much larger engine capacity will be produced in Vietnam due to local demand, we may well see a few other peculiar Vespas appear in the future.
With a different version of the LX also being produced by Piaggio in India for the local market there, I wonder if they’ll be as interesting in the future as Douglas, ACMA and Messerschmitt produced Vespas are today?
