While the rest of the worlds auto companies are looking at impeding bankruptcy, Vespa bucks the trend. The global scooter manufacturer amassed a 60% increase in growth during 2008.

The Piaggio group which also includes such brands as Vespa, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia managed to shift over 20,000 scooter and other motorbikes in the United States alone.

Whilst the amount of  cars being sold is dropping each day, the cheaper scooter is managing to become a better alternative to consumers. Some of the reasons for the increase in  popularity of the Vespa scooter is:

• Parking prices has increased year on year
• Gas price is still expensive for most families
• Traffic jams in cities mean that using the car can sometimes take twice as long.

The United States scooter market still has a lot of catching up to do with Europe. Currently over 600,000 scooters are sold in Europe compared to the total figure sold in the U.S being 220,000.  When we compare the US market in 2000 where 20,000 scooter where sold this has meant an increase of 200,000!

Since arriving in the US in 2000, the amount of vespa dealerships has gone from 0 to 325 today.

Currently the main scooter on offer from the Vespa brand are priced from $3,299 to $6,199 with some of the piaggio branded bikes going up to just under $9,000. The price difference when compared to most cars means that the amount of Vespa’s sold is set to continue in the coming months.

It’s not just your wallet that will be saved from switching to two wheels. As the latest “vespanomics” advertising campaign pointed out,  if 10% of Americans moved to 2 wheels 14 million gallons of fuel would be saved per day!

I have had a Vespa through the good years of the economy but now that its taken a dive for the worse the decision to switch should be a no-brainer.

Check out some cheap Vespa’s on ebay.