November 14, 2011 – The Piaggio Group had an entire neighborhood full of display stands at the 2011 EICMA show.
The brands include Piaggio, Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Gilera and Derbi. The SFKATAS (The Scooter Formerly Known As The Aprilia Scarabeo) is now its own brand also, simply called “Scarabeo”. It had a separate display also.
This was one of the most crowded displays at the show, for a variety of reasons.
First, the Group covers all the bases, as we would say in America, with everything from 50 cc scooters to Moto Guzzi touring bikes to the massive and new Aprilia SRV (cool — a Stevie Ray Vaughan edition!), 850 cc, V-twin scooter.
More on that in a bit…
Also, the Piaggio Group pretty much specializes in scooters, what with Vespa, Piaggio et al in the family. And scooters are huge in Europe, of course — as, by the way, they are here in Tel Aviv as I write this. In fact, I think I’ve seen more scooters here than I did in downtown Milan.
Finally, Piaggio is, after all, an Italian company, with deep roots in the national psyche with a panoply of historic brands. So it was no wonder the stands were crowded…
Unfortunately, I ran into the same problem at this year’s Piaggio display as I did last year; finding someone whos speaks English. Even the brochures are printed only in Italian. Hey — nothing wrong with Italian — it’s a beautiful language. But Piaggio products are sold in France, Germany, England, Spain…and the U.S., in addition to, oh, about 200 other countries.
I could go on about Piaggio marketing mis-steps, but there’s no need. Their record — at least in the U.S. — speaks for itself.
Anyway, sinc I am not really up on my Guzzi-, Aprilia- or Vespa-ese, I know very little about the bikes and scooters, so I lumped them all together and put them in a slide show below.
I did recognize the new Aprilia SRV scooter however. It was formally announced at the show. Remember the Aprilia Mana 850 GT I reviewed last year? Apparently, this is where its engine and transmission ended up. The SRV is listed as having an 850 cc, V-twin engine with 55.9 kW (76.0 HP?) at 7,750 RPM and maximum torque of 76.5 Nm at 6,000 RPM.
That has to be some kind of a record for a production scooter, no? I’d like to try one, that’s for sure, if only to compare it to the Mana GT.
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From “W.W.” (November 2011): “Aprilia SRV is not in fact derived from Aprilia Mana but is a rebadge of Gilera GP800. Some technical detailed were changed, but engine is the same.”
Rick’s Reply: I can’t believe Piaggio makes two completely seperate 850 cc V-twin engines and CVT transmissions though, so the engine in the Mana, Gilera and Aprilia SRV must be the same.