Moped fever is spreading. And more dealers in Richmond are trying to get in on the action.
Whitten Motor Sports in Ashland now sells Vespas, the high end Italian scooter.
The dealership began carrying the fashionable two-wheelrs about a month ago, according to sales manager Jeremy Larsen.
Whitten struck a franchise deal with Piaggio, the Italian manufacturer of Vespa, Larsen said. The deal allows them to sell from Piaggio’s full line of scooters, which includes Vespas and Aprilias.
Larsen said that they have sold some of the scooters — “a few” — but he thinks sales will increase as word spreads that the dealership has them in stock.
The high-end scooters are also available at Scoot Richmond, including vintage ones from decades past. BizSense has reported that Scoot Richmond sold more scooters/mopeds in both May and June than during the entire previous year.
Perhaps that’s because Vespas get between 70-80 mpg.
Vespas are imported from Italy. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio’s founder Rinaldo Piaggio, was shown a prototype of the scooter. When he heard the buzzing sound of the engine, he allegedly said, “Sembra una vespa,” which is Italian for “seems like a wasp.”
And the name stuck.
And, in another interesting note, check out this list of famous Vespa owners.
There is also a moped gang in Richmond called Hell’s Satans. You can read more about that here.
Moped fever is spreading. And more dealers in Richmond are trying to get in on the action.
Whitten Motor Sports in Ashland now sells Vespas, the high end Italian scooter.
The dealership began carrying the fashionable two-wheelrs about a month ago, according to sales manager Jeremy Larsen.
Whitten struck a franchise deal with Piaggio, the Italian manufacturer of Vespa, Larsen said. The deal allows them to sell from Piaggio’s full line of scooters, which includes Vespas and Aprilias.
Larsen said that they have sold some of the scooters — “a few” — but he thinks sales will increase as word spreads that the dealership has them in stock.
The high-end scooters are also available at Scoot Richmond, including vintage ones from decades past. BizSense has reported that Scoot Richmond sold more scooters/mopeds in both May and June than during the entire previous year.
Perhaps that’s because Vespas get between 70-80 mpg.
Vespas are imported from Italy. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio’s founder Rinaldo Piaggio, was shown a prototype of the scooter. When he heard the buzzing sound of the engine, he allegedly said, “Sembra una vespa,” which is Italian for “seems like a wasp.”
And the name stuck.
And, in another interesting note, check out this list of famous Vespa owners.
There is also a moped gang in Richmond called Hell’s Satans. You can read more about that here.