“We are working on a global motorcycle project that will be focused on all the countries where we have our factories that include Italy, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and China,” said Davide Zanolini, executive vice president, global marketing and communication, at Piaggio Group, and chief marketing officer of Piaggio Fast Forward, a group entity focused on technology and design.
The Aprilia motorcycles, targeted at the “affordable performance segment”, are being jointly developed by Piaggio’s research and development (R&D) team in Italy, India and the rest of Asia, Zanolini said. The production and launch plans will be finalised in the later part of the year, he added. To mark 25 years in India, Piaggio will be launching entire range of Aprilia scooters with a new higher performance i-get engine. It’s also bringing a new edition of Vespa next month.
Zanolini said a fast-evolving motorcycle market in the emerging and developed countries of the world has prompted Piaggio to get into the mid-size segment.
Chairman and MD Diego Graffi said: “The mid-segment of the motorcycle market is quite promising and motorcycles like these are more suitable for markets like India.”
Keyword: Piaggio to launch mid-segment Aprilia bike