Quote:
Originally Posted by inuyasha
Hi
Im at a loss for words
     
What can they be thinking with that decission
Take care and ride safely my friend
Yours Hank |
Unfortunately Aprilia is already a low volume dealer in the US so it's just that much harder for them to compete. Especially with the flood of cheap Chinese scooters depressing scooter prices and simultaneously turning people off of scooters because of the perceived lack of quality.
Honda also is holding the line introducing very good models like the PCX 150 and the simplified Metropolitan with fuel injection. Yamaha is doing really well with their Zuma 125.
Couple this with even tougher emissions effectively banning 2t's making Aprilia's 2t power advantage moot and you can see why they're having such a tough time.
The thing keeping Aprilia scooters afloat overseas in Europe and Asia is that getting bigger bikes is significantly more difficult. Licensing, registration and insurance is a major expense and 50cc's avoid a lot of that over there so hopped up 50cc scooters are all over the place. And Aprilia's pretty much the Ferrari of small scooters.
Here once you get your license you can essentially buy a used 1000cc sport bike just as easily as a new 50cc scooter. They'll cost about the same. So it's also just as easy to get a 150cc scooter.
So there's multiple reasons why Aprilia just can't sell their fantastic small scooters in the US. Same reason why 250cc motorcycle selection is so bad in the US.