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Piaggio

The history

Piaggio was founded in Genua in 1884 by the then twenty-year-old Rinaldo Piaggio. Initially he focused on the layout of the luxury sea-going vessels that were built in Genoa. Piaggio, however, quickly turned to other markets. For example, the company built steam-driven sawing machines, later also produced rail vehicles (1908), motor boats and even large aircraft (1915). The most important innovation introduced by Piaggio at the time was the pressure cabin for aircraft. Rinaldo Piaggio died in 1938, leaving his two factories (in Pisa and Pontedera) to his sons Enrique and Armando Piaggio.

From aircraft..

The company Piaggio produced military aircraft in the Second World War, in particular the large P.108 bomber. This also meant, however, that the Piaggio factories became targets for the allied forces. The factories were therefore bombed several times and were almost completely destroyed by the end of the war.

..to scooters

In 1946 the first scooter was built, which was called Vespa (wasp) because of its soft humming and slender waist. In 1946, a total of 2181 Vespas were deposited. These were sold via the dealers of the car brand Lancia. More than 15 million Vespas have been sold worldwide. On the basis of the Vespa a three-wheel van was developed, of which in 1948 the first models came on the market under the name Ape, which means in bee Italian. This because of the characteristic sound.

..and even cars

From 1958 Piaggio also produced cars. Although they were selling reasonably well in France and Germany, the much larger Fiat was afraid of losing part of the smaller family car market to Piaggio. In 1959, this dispute was solved in a very Italian way by a marriage between a daughter of the Piaggio family and a member of the Fiat family Agnelli. Later, Piaggio would be fully incorporated into the Fiat group, but relapsed from it in the late 1990s. Since then the company has remained independent. In 1964 the company Piaggio was split up. Enrique Piaggio would fully occupy himself with scooters, motorcycles and mopeds. His brother Armando (died 1965) focused on the production of aircraft.

Piaggio like we know now

Gilera has also been part of the Piaggio group since 1970. Various Vespa moped models were also released under the brand name Piaggio. Since 1999, Piaggio has been owned by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity. In 2001 Piaggio acquired the Spanish brand Derbi and also bought 20% of the shares of MV Agusta. In 2004, Piaggio also took over the Aprilia brand. In 1989, the Austrian Puch was already taken over by Piaggio. Between 1992 and 2002 Piaggio built the Daihatsu Hijet for Daihatsu. Since then, Piaggio de Porter has been building on the basis of a Daihatsu license.

Piaggio is the most important producer of Scooters and Engines (in particular Piaggio, Puch, Vespa and Gilera), as well as one of the most important motorcycle manufacturers (Moto Guzzi and Aprilia). Known scooter models from Piaggio include the Fly and the Zip. Probably the most striking model is the MP3, a three-wheeled version.