Genuine Scooters head honcho Phil McCaleb tells Scootin’ Old-skool model year 2009 Stellas will be rolling down the assembly line at LML this month. The adoption of California emissions standards by many states (including Washington and Oregon) will apply to vehicle manufacturers’ MY 2010 models; by then “we’ll be ready with something ‘new’ for Stella,” he says.
Guess that means any rumored 4-stroke Stella won't be coming until 2010. Wonder if that also means the '09s won't sell in OR and WA; kind of sounds like it.
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
The '09 2T Stellas can be sold in Washington and Oregon, 'cuz they're MY '09 bikes. It's the MY '10 bikes that will have to meet California emissions standards, which means bye-bye 2-strokes.
So yeah, expect a 2010 Stella (if there is one; I wouldn't be surprised to see the long-awaited ET4 clone marketed as the Stella II) to have a 4-stroke engine. And don't be surprised if that engine has electronic fuel injection. Buddys in other markets have EFI...
Doubt it will be the ET4 clone, genuine isnt stupid to have 2 classic bikes competing against one another. The buddy is their best seller, so I think it'll be here for years.
genuine isnt stupid to have 2 classic bikes competing against one another
No, I'm not saying they would... an ET4 clone would replace the Stella. LML only builds what we call the Stella for export, and only in small batches. At some point LML will probably decide building a couple hundred bikes here and there isn't worth doing, and that will be the end of it. At that point, an ET4 clone might make sense. The ET4 has quite a following, and a lot of people would probably be very interested in a new/old ET4. At the right price, of course...
genuine isnt stupid to have 2 classic bikes competing against one another
No, I'm not saying they would... an ET4 clone would replace the Stella. LML only builds what we call the Stella for export, and only in small batches. At some point LML will probably decide building a couple hundred bikes here and there isn't worth doing, and that will be the end of it. At that point, an ET4 clone might make sense. The ET4 has quite a following, and a lot of people would probably be very interested in a new/old ET4. At the right price, of course...
LML has a 4-stroke Stella currently in production; they had it on display at EICMA, but it's been hard to get any info on it. It's being exported to parts of Asia and North Africa. From what I've heard, it's just not up to snuff as a replacement for the US 2-stroke version yet—I don't know if that's in terms of performance, emissions or other factors. I don't think the ET4 clone will be forthcoming from Genuine because they have several models in the works with PGO for '10 and the ET clone would compete more with the Buddy—probably at a higher cost—than the Stella. So, I think we're either looking at some version of a 4-stroke Stella, possibly with a higher price point and larger engine, or the end of the Stella altogether after '10. That said, the Vespa GTS sells very well and it would be quite smart for Genuine to have a metal-bodied, vintage-style scooter to compete with it. There are also rumors of Vespa bringing in a 4-stroke version of the PX—probably sparked by the return of the Stella and rumors about Genuine's plans.
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
Two-stroke, four-stroke, CVT or manual, makes no difference, as long as it is all-steel and looks like a classic. As Fernando used to say on the old SNL, "It is more important to LOOK marvelous than to BE marvelous."
hardd1 wrote:just leave Stella alone....she is perfect...after all, Stella is loved in 49 of 50 states....good enough for me
I hope anything that's not a manual (at least) is rebranded as something other than a 'Stella." There are a lot of good reasons for doing this, not the least of which is allowing the Stella fans to stay Stella fans and not feel betrayed by the introduction of a fundamentally different scooter with a similar (or the same) body bearing the same name.
No doubt about it, an automatic version certainly wouldn't be a Stella at all. A 4-stroke manual, however… well, that's debatable…
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
I bet whatever Genuine comes up with will be a much better scooter, but as Steven Wright says, "You can't have it all… where would you put it?"
Bb.
Just saw that in the 2sb newsletter. It's… uh… interesting…
Actually, the profile view doesn't look so bad, actually more Vespa-like than the 3/4 view. Be interesting to see what people think of it when they see it in person.
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
Meh...I'm really into the Venti! I figure that I'll never be Old School/OG enough, so I may as well please myself, and dang, is she a beut. I wonder if it'll have the mechanical chops to match? Let's wait & see.
haha I know Orin! I had never seen the Scootin Old School site before... When I went to the site I saw the scoots in the picture and thought they looked familiar!
polianarchy wrote:Meh...I'm really into the Venti! I figure that I'll never be Old School/OG enough, so I may as well please myself, and dang, is she a beut. I wonder if it'll have the mechanical chops to match? Let's wait & see.
Childish name-calling is against this forum's posting guidelines, as found here: topic1.html
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polianarchy wrote:Meh...I'm really into the Venti! I figure that I'll never be Old School/OG enough, so I may as well please myself, and dang, is she a beut. I wonder if it'll have the mechanical chops to match? Let's wait & see.
LAME!
Calling a moderator lame is pretty ill-advised. Save that crap for the BBS.
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
