Vento

Vento is a motorcycle, scooter and ATV manufacturer from the USA. The name of the company is Italian for "wind". The company was originally founded in Mexico in 1996. Parts come from Italy, China, Japan and Taiwan, with some of its suppliers also selling to Harley-Davidson.

In 1998, an assembly and quality control plant was opened in Laredo, Texas. This plant was built with the purpose of elevating the quality of their products in order to compete in the marketplace with manufacturers here and abroad. All of the components are brought to Laredo where they are assembled and quality control work is performed.

Vento's corporate office, located in San Diego, California, is where various operations varying from product design and development to customer support take place. Vento’s sales organization is structured in the United States through a network of 175+ Vento Dealers in more than 30 states; there are more than 300 Vento outlets worldwide. FY 2003 sales in the United States totaled 17,840 units. A sum of 77,600 Vento motorcycles were sold that same year in Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico,Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Russia combined. (Includes Highway Motorcycles, Scooters, Utility and ATVs). Vento sells more small-displacement two-wheel vehicles in Mexico than Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki combined.

Vento products are approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), and certified by both the EPA and the California Air Resources Board, meeting the strictest emission regulations.

Vento motorcycles have somewhat bulky bodies which resemble larger cruisers made by other manufacturers, but their V-twin 250 cc engines are comparatively small. Though large, the Vento motorcycles are not particularly heavy--typically around 375 pounds. Vento has an extensive network of dealers, including GTS scooter dealers made by the same parent corporation.

External links

* [http://www.vento.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.myvento.net/ Myvento.net - Unofficial support forums]