Hello fellow Vespaficionados/-as,
There is a lot of information to be found regarding the current state of Vespa sales in the US / North America. Here are just some examples:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/07/09/VI2010070905043.html
http://www.modernvespa.com/forum/topic69873
Let us hear your opinion on the prospects of the good old Vespa in this market. Maybe some input from riders in the US would help along the way.
Looking forward to your contributions.
Martin
Compared to 30 years ago, the interest in scooters has been explosive in the US. Year-round riding of course depends on the climate where you live, but there are Vespa dealers in nearly every major US city these days.
Whereas 10 years ago, 99% of Americans didn't even recognize the name Vespa and just called everything a "moped". Many new twist-and-go Vespa riders seem to buy for trendy reasons and then lose interest after their first scary traffic incident, but enough stick with it to be a highly visible presence in some cities.
The return of Piaggio to the US has also seen a renewed interest in vintage scooters, although this remains a cult group of obsessives for the most part. A deluge of shitty Vietnamese hackjob "restorations" has burned many gullible internet scooter newbies however. I never understood why anyone would buy a 30-40 year old vintage machine sight unseen from a third-world nation and expect it NOT to be a scam of some sort. These "viet-bodges" are then scammed off on another gullible sucker in a seemingly endless cycle.