Hi, guys, this is Claudia.
And today we're in Pontedera,
in the province of Pisa, in Tuscany, in Italy,
at the headquarters of Vespa and the Piaggio Group.
So today we're gonna take a tour of the factory
and see how Vespas are made.
Let's go, follow me.
Vespas are more than just scooters.
Over the years, they have become an icon
of Italian culture and of the made in Italy itself.
They have been featured endlessly on the big screen
in movies like Fellini's "La Dolce Vita"
or "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn.
In the last 10 years, Vespa has made and sold
over 1.6 million scooters all over the world.
Vespa debuted in 1946 at the Rome Golf Club,
and it quickly gained popularity.
It went from selling 2,500 scooters in 1947
to more than 20 times that in only three years,
selling 60,000 in 1950.
The first models were sold for 55,000 lire,
or about $245 at the time.
Vespa prices were very competitive,
and this, together with its sleek design,
is what turned it into a success.
Vespa differs from other scooters
in that its body frame is made entirely of steel stampings
that are welded together, which is exactly how Piaggio
made its airplanes when it launched the scooter in 1946.
The welding line at the Pontedera factory is fully robotic.
It uses a combination of spot welding and arc welding.
The final revisions of the chassis
are done by hand by an experienced operator
who's there to spot any defects on the steel.
We then move to the paint shop.
The body frame is first coated
in a black cataphoresis primer.
Then, operators seal the joining line between the left
and right bodyworks and the front shield and the footwork.
Another primer is applied to guarantee the correct adhesion
between the cataphoresis and the base coat.
The color of this primer is linked to the base coat,
so a black or gray primer will be applied
to darker vehicles, and a white one
for a vehicle that is painted red, for example.
The finish is cured by baking it
for 40 minutes at 85 degrees Celsius,
then polished to remove any imperfections.
A conveyor brings the body frames
to the final assembly line.
At the Pontedera factory there are six assembly lines.
Three lines assemble Piaggio brands
Liberty, NRG, MP3, and Beverly.
The remaining lines are for Vespa GTS,
Vespa Primavera, Vespa Sprint, Vespa 946,
and the new electric range, Vespa Elettrica.
We followed the assembly of the Vespa Primavera 125.
The assembly line moves continuously,
and a new Vespa is ready every three minutes.
It's all done by hand, using electronic screwdrivers.
Each piece has a barcode that the operator scans
to get the right settings.
The front fork's design, with the shock absorber
on the left side and the wheel assembled on the right side,
resemble that of an airplane wheel.
At the end of the line, a technician
tests the lights and the speed guages.
Aside from the Pontedera factory,
Piaggio also opened a factory in Vietnam in 2013
to cater for the great demand in Asian markets.