SDG wrote:ericalm wrote:Lovelandstella wrote:
I like the theory(joke) that Piaggio bribed someone for the Stella delay.
The Scary thing is that it would make sense that Piaggio is not nearly as threatened by the Blur, right?
Hilarious.
I don't know how Piaggio USA is reacting to the Stella, but I know some dealers are rightfully concerned about its debut in CA.
Hey Eric,
Care to enlighten us on this? I know the CA dealer body pretty good and haven't heard a peep. What are we "rightfully concerned" about?
Some USA dealers still have brand new 05 PX's for sale, it was a failed experiment for the USA. It seems 95% of the riders want automatics, probably because 50% of them are brand new riders.
I am just curious to a deeper explanation of your statement.
See you Sunday!
Best,
David
Well, since you asked: When I mentioned I might ride my new Stella 4T to a group ride for charity departing from a local Vespa dealership, the dealer threw a shitfit, made the ride "Modern Vespa only" and sent me private messages telling me not to show up on a scooter his shop doesn't sell, not to post the ride to the 360+ member Meetup group I organize and not to post it to ModernBuddy or anywhere else. When I expressed disappointment with the dealer not supporting the local scooter scene, contributing to the existing divisions among scooterists and taking away from the charity in question, I was told to quit lecturing.
To me, this pretty much looks a lot like concern over having competing products in front of the Vespa shop, especially coming from a dealer who can't resist an opportunity to knock Genuine and their products. Apparently, the prospect of having a 4T Stella at an event there was so frightening, this dealer hotheadedly reacted without thinking.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the ride was (re)opened to all scooters. Maybe the dealer realized he behaved poorly. Maybe he realized that in these times, many dealers would relish the opportunity to have owners of other makes come into their shop to see what they had to offer. Or maybe he realized that for all his talk of love of scootering and the scene, he was exhibiting almost pathological two-faced behavior, revealing his true motivations while saying and behaving in a completely opposite way in public.
With Vespa dealers in SoCal shuttering their doors and many of the others in dire straits and still others sitting on huge stockpiles of scooters that they're having to sell at or near cost, any not concerned about a vintage-styled, metal bodied shifter for sale at a price point much lower than their base 150cc model is delusional.
I can't make the Sunday ride because I'll be en route to my sister's wedding in NC. I strongly encourage all locals to attend—riding whatever they like—to enjoy the ride and to help support the Pablove Foundation for pediatric cancer research.