- Stella (scooter)
Stella is a model of a vintage-style scooter first imported into the United States by Chicago-based
Genuine Scooters in 2003 and manufactured byLML in their factory in Kanpur, India.LML of India, first began producing the Stella in 1986 as a joint venture with Piaggio (the manufacturer of theVespa ). The joint venture between Piaggio and LML began as a way for Piaggio to sell its Vespa PX model to the Indian market. The Vespa PX began production by Piaggio in Italy in 1978 and ended in 2005. For this reason, the Stella is, in a sense, quite literally a Vespa PX (essentially being a Vespa PX produced by a licensed partner in India). In fact, many of the parts of the Vespa P-Series scooters and the LML/Genuine Stella are interchangeable.The Stella (known by different names in different countries) stopped production from 2005 to mid-2006 due to a labor strike at the factory in India. The Stella began production again in 2007 once the labor disagreements were settled.
The Stella features a classic 150cc 2-Stroke motor capable of speeds up to 65mph. It cruises easily from 0-55mph. It operates, like all vintage scooters, with a 4-Speed "twist-grip" manual transmission that requires twisting the left side of the steering column up and down through the gears.
The Stella now retains the status of being the last new "truly vintage" scooter on the market.
The Stella is sold in the United States only by authorized
Genuine Scooters dealers, located in many cities throughout the United States.As of June 2008, the MSRP of the scooter is $3,499. Color options include Red, Black, Tangerine, Powder Blue and Avocado. Improvements on the 2007 and 2008 models include better quality paint, grips and a redesigned headlight.
External links
* [http://www.genuinescooters.com/scooters/stella/stella.html Official Stella Website]
* [http://www.genuinescooters.com Official Genuine Scooter Company Website]
* [http://www.provoscooter.com/px150/stellavspx.htm Side-by-Side comparison between Stella and Vespa PX 150]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.