Milan Motor Show 2012: Vespa 946, the Vespa that returns to the future of the brand

2023 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 02:44

Last Monday we were able to see the first photo of the Vespa 946 in its final configuration for the market. Today we can already speak with official data in the hand of what will be the Vespa of the XXI century.

And is that redesign a motorcycle that has been on the street for 66 years and of which no less than 17 million units have been sold around the world is a challenge achievable by few. We already saw something similar when Ducati decided to change the face of the Ducati Monster after many years on the market. But I think that in this case the objective goes a step further and I think it has been achieved with flying colors. Let's see in detail what we are talking about.

The main premise for the new Vespa design is that it should faithfully follow the line designed in 1946 by Corradino D'ascanio. And for this the best thing was to keep the welded sheet metal chassis. Objective achieved, and which, also for the first time in the history of the brand, incorporates aluminum parts. I insist that I believe that they have achieved the objective, because if you take a quick look at this Vespa 946, you immediately associate it with a classic Vespa, because of its line and that aura that it gives off.

Technically the solution of self-supporting chassis in welded sheet steel It is a revolutionary idea that practically no one is able to carry out with solvency today. It must be remembered that the vast majority of Scooters that are circulating around the world use a chassis of tubes on which some plastic pieces are screwed to give it the final shape. To that we add that now they will use aluminum parts, just what the original design lacked to place itself in the 21st century with current materials.

In the pure figures section, the new chassis uses the same wheelbase of the current Vespa GTS and GTV. But combined with the lighter lines of the Vespa LX and S to further lighten the new design. According to Piaggio herself, this is the Vespa from "Back to the Future", perhaps somewhat pretentious, but with which I completely agree.

At front end we find one of the few nods to the past that they have allowed themselves to maintain. The suspension used is the most well-known single-arm with shock absorber. But at the rear the suspension has undergone a complete revolution, the monoshock now is no longer located in a vertical position, but runs horizontally. In addition, this shock absorber is adjustable in preload in four positions and uses a progressive cam system. The lights are also 21st century, using LED technology and the dashboard is made up of an LCD screen.

Having seen all this, we come to one of the highlights of this new Vespa 946 design, the seat. This goes mounted on an aluminum support that pivots on a hinge made of cast aluminum. This seat is lined with water-repellent fabric. Among the parts made of aluminum, the front fender stands out, which covers a 12-inch wheel, the same size as the rear wheel. These 12-inch wheels use the breakaway rim system, but conveniently upgraded for today's tubeless tires.

At the time I mentioned that the rear brake was going to be a drum brake. Because this is the system used by the Piaggio 125 3V engine in other models. But on this Vespa 946 the brakes of both trains are disc, in addition to using a system of Two-channel ABS and controlled by a dedicated switchboard. To complete the technological refinements, the Vespa 946 will come equipped with a ASR traction control system which prevents the rear wheel from skidding under any circumstances.

The engine, which we already know from a few months ago. It is the 125cc three-valve engine that produces 8.5 kW (11.54 hp) at 8,250 rpm and delivers a torque of 10.7 Nm at 6,500 rpm. It uses an injection system with automatic idle control and a closed mixture control circuit administered with a Lambda probe to comply with the Euro3 standard. Supplemented with a three-way catalyst. This great little engine is capable of doing 55 km per liter running at 50 km / h and it only needs to be serviced every 10,000 km.

To me, and I think that if you have come this far you have already seen it, it seems to me that this is one of the most beautiful Vespa that have come out of Pontedera in recent years. Now we only have to know what final price it will have, because even if they only make it in the two colors that we can see in the photos, it will be enough.