The Germans Are Coming! The Germans Are Coming!

All the talk in the scootering world of late has been about the possible return of the Vespa PX in some form or another around 2011. As much as this piece of news is welcomed, it does seem like the crowd at Piaggio aren't actually looking forward enough especially when it comes to the tried and tested Vespa formula.

Well, if ever they needed a kick up the behind then, this should be a good enough reason.

Mini (the now BMW-owned) looks like its expanding its horizons by planning to release some very tasty looking electric scooter concepts at the Paris Motor Show next month (more pictures here). If anything else, I might borrow  some ideas from the green scooter above for my own Green Vespa. Oh, and the use of iPhones as the scooters' driver interface isn't too bad of an idea either. Would love to see some sort of after-market adaptor for the classic Vespa some time soon.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your view of the whole thing), the show of interest from established German car makers don't actually end there...

Mercedes-Benz, in the guise of its not-so-successful subsidiary, Smart have also decided to join the fray by releasing its own electric scooter concept (more pictures here). While the Smart design lacks the retro design cues abundant on the Mini concept, I'd say they'd be a lot of people out there who would appreciate the concept's honesty, clean lines and minimalism. Personally, I think it reminds me of an air freshener or something similar but, in a good way. Yes, I don't how that's good when it comes to scooters but all I know is that it does look good.


Now, all we can hope for is that all the accountants, engineers and focus groups don't water down the designs before it gets close to the production line, if ever.

The future of scooters: A Vespa Concept

Here's a good looking Vespa concept I found during one of my online travels...

The fictional Vespa is from designer, Daniele Pesaresi who I think has done a brilliant job on delivering a really modern and aggressive but at the same time, retro-looking Vespa. It's certainly doesnt't stray too far away from the newer GTS models available these days so, in a way, is also quite realistic.

Very, very nice.

Unfortunately, the thing with concepts is that it's just that. A concept. Even if Piaggio decide to hire Mr. Pesaresi and take up his design, concept designs are normally just limited to trade shows and would usually never see the light of day anyway.

Ah well, we can always hope can't we?

The future of scooters

While there’s all this talk about LML’s new 4 stroke PX clone being the FUTURE for geared scooters, I would kindly disagree. Forget the LML, in a perfect future (assuming that it would have some gears), this would be my ride!

The JetScooter

I'd probably change the colour on it a bit and throw in a Sito Plus to give it that bit more ummpphh at the lights but other than that it's perfectly fine.

On the other hand, imagine the cost of servicing one of these suckers. Conversations with the local scooter mechanic would sound oddly familiar...

I checked the engines. The warp drive, that’s a hopeless pile of junk! And, if you push those impulse engines too hard in the condition they’re in then they’ll blow apart.

Blow-outs? Yeah, pinching the tube between your rims would be the least of your worries.

Thanks to peanuts23 for the amazing sneak preview into the future!