this article may be confusing or unclear to readers . please help us clarify the article ; suggestions may be found on the talk page . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message piaggio & c. spa type public traded as bit pia industry motor vehicle manufacturing motor vehicle distribution engine manufacturing founded sestri ponente italy january 24 1884 1884 01 24 founder rinaldo piaggio headquarters pontedera italy area served worldwide key people roberto colaninno chairman and ceo revenue 1 295 million 2015 1 operating income 161.8 million 2015 1 profit 11.9 million 2015 1 number of employees 7 510 2014 2 subsidiaries aprilia derbi gilera moto guzzi piaggio vespa scarabeo piaggio commercial vehicles website piaggiogroup.com en piaggio & c. spa piaggio pjadd o via its subsidiaries designs engineers manufactures and distributes two wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under seven brands . piaggio & c. spa corporate headquarters are located in pontedera italy . piaggio s various subsidiaries employ a total of 7 053 employees who produced a total of 519 700 vehicles in 2014 . 3 piaggio operates six research and development centers and operates in over 50 countries . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 development 1.2 under new ownership 2 cultural project piaggio 3 brands and models 3.1 group brands 3.2 models 3.3 electric scooters 4 references 5 external links history edit founded by rinaldo piaggio in 1884 piaggio initially produced locomotives and railway carriages . during world war i the company focused on producing aircraft . during world war ii the company produced bomber aircraft but piaggio emerged from the conflict with its pontedera plant completely demolished by allied bombing . italy s crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the redevelopment of the automobile markets . enrico piaggio the son of piaggio s founder rinaldo piaggio decided to leave the aeronautical field in order to address italy s urgent need for a modern and affordable mode of transportation . the idea was to design an inexpensive vehicle for the masses . aeronautical engineer corradino d ascanio responsible for the design and construction of the first modern helicopter by agusta was asked by enrico piaggio to create a simple robust and affordable vehicle . the vehicle had to be easy to drive for both men and women be able to carry a passenger and not get its driver s clothes dirty . in 1946 piaggio launched the vespa scooter italian for wasp and within ten years over a million units had been produced . the italian language gained a new word vespare meaning to go somewhere on a vespa . development edit with strong cash flow from the success of the vespa piaggio developed other products including the 1957 vespa 400 a tiny passenger car . in 1959 piaggio came under the control of the agnelli family the owners of car maker fiat spa . in 1964 the two divisions aeronautical and motorcycle split to become two independent companies as a result of the wide ownership by fiat in italian industry . clarification needed the aeronautical division was named iam rinaldo piaggio . the aircraft company piaggio aero is controlled by the family of piero ferrari who still hold 10 % of ferrari . in 1969 piaggio purchased the motorcycle company gilera . under new ownership edit vespa a todi vespa thrived until 1992 when gianni agnelli became ceo but agnelli was already suffering from cancer and died in 1997 . in 1999 morgan grenfell private equity acquired piaggio but hopes for a quick sale were dashed by a failed joint venture in china . clarification needed in italy piaggio invested 15 million euros 19.4 million in a new motorcycle but dropped it after building a prototype . by the end of 2002 the company had run up 577 million euros in debt on revenues of 945 million euros and booked a loss of 129 million euros . then came roberto colaninno who said a lot of people told me i was crazy . piaggio wasn t dying . it just needed to be treated better . piaggio s financial position was in a bad shape but its brand was still well known and its products were featured in many hollywood films thanks to the vespa et4 . in 1995 colaninno had pulled off europe s then largest ever hostile takeover when he took control of telecom italia spa . in september 2003 piaggio s debt was reduced by the 100 million euro cash investment made by colaninno through his holding company immsi spa . there was also 150 million shares converted by creditor banks . roberto colaninio becomes the new chairman of piaggio with dr. rocco sabelli becoming the managing director . dr. rocco sabelli redesigned the factory on japanese principles and changed it so that every piaggio scooter could be made on any assembly line . unlike the turnaround recipe applied at u.s. auto makers mr. colaninno did not fire a single worker a move which helped seduce the company s sceptical unions . everyone in a company is part of the value chain said colaninno . all bonuses for blue collar workers and management were based on the same criteria profit margins and customer satisfaction . air conditioning was installed in the factory for the first time increasing productivity . he also gave the company s engineers who had been idled by the company s financial crisis deadlines for projects . they rolled out two world firsts in 2004 a gas electric hybrid scooter and a sophisticated tilting scooter with two wheels in front and one in back to grip the road better . one of piaggio s problems mr. colaninno couldn t fix from the inside was its scale . even though piaggio was the european market leader it was dwarfed by rivals honda and yamaha . a year after restoring piaggio s health colaninno directed piaggio s takeover of the italian scooter and motorcycle manufacturer aprilia and with it the aprilia owned moto guzzi storied italian manufacturer of motorcycles . in 2006 piaggio floated on the milan stock exchange becoming a public company . cultural project piaggio edit the cultural project promoted by piaggio is aimed for the reconstruction and enhancement of the company s heritage and is composed by three initiatives piaggio foundation historical archives and the piaggio museum . in 2003 the museum and archives have been recognized as best corporate museum and archives for the italian prize premio impresa e cultura . 5 brands and models edit 1962 vespa 150 gl piaggio mp3 three wheel scooter group brands edit aprilia motorcycles scooter and mopeds piaggio scooters mopeds vespa scooters and mopeds scarabeo scooters and mopeds derbi motorcycles scooters mopeds and recreational atvs quads gilera motorcycles scooters mopeds and recreational atvs quads moto guzzi motorcycles piaggio commercial vehicles commercial vehicles models edit piaggio grillo . piaggio 110 bicycle bodywork 110 anniversaries ape 3 wheel micro light commercial vehicles piaggio porter 4 wheel microvans and micro pickups same as a daihatsu hijet . piaggio mp3 tilting 3 wheel scooter diesis 50 100 50cc air cooled two stroke and 100cc water cooled two stroke made between 2001 and 2005 fly50 100 125 150 free50 typhoon 50 cc 80cc 125 cc 1995 2000 ; 2012 sfera nsl 50 cc & 80 cc 1991 1995 sfera rst rst standing for restyle 50 cc 2 stroke & 125 cc 4 stroke 1995 nrg mc1 3 50 cc mc standing for mark . nrg power purejet 50 cc fuel injection water cooling nrg power dt air cooled and dd liquid cooled both introduced in 2005 ntt water cooled two stroke made between 1995 and 1998 liberty 50 cc two stroke 125 cc & 150 cc quattrotempi liberty s 50 cc 125 cc 200 cc skipper st 125 cc piaggio ciao 50 cc si 50 cc superbravo 50 cc avanti 50 cc grillo 50 cc bravo 50 cc grande 50 cc boxer 50 cc boxer 2 50 cc x7 125 european market 250 x7 evo 125 300 cc announced 2009 x8 125 european market 250 400 xevo 125 250 400 x9 125 250 cc evolution the evolution models superseded the previous x9 models in 2004 which were fitted with honda engines x9 500 cc evolution with features not fitted on 125 250 cc models hydraulic centre stand integrated rider to pillion communication system mobile phone charger in front dash cubbyhole bv200 250 bv350 bv500 neo classic style automatic transmission top speed 100 mph beverly 125 cc ; 250 cc ; 400 cc ; 500 cc beverly is the italian name for the bv models medley 125cc medley s 125cc carnaby 125 cc & 200 cc free 50 50 cc hexagon 125 cc ; 150 cc ; 180 cc ; 250 cc t 125 cc ; 150 cc piaggio velofax or vespino 1995 to 1999 . quartz 50 cc two stroke liquid cooled quartz 125 cc two stroke air cooled storm 125 cc four stroke air cooled m500 505 cc two stroke microcar ravi piaggio strom 125 cc four stroke joint venture of piaggio with ravi and available in pakistani market piaggio ape rr zip 50 cc two stroke air cooled pre 2000 zip sp 50 cc two stroke water cooled pre 2000 zip cat 50 cc two stroke air cooled 2000 onwards zip sp 50 cc two stroke water cooled 2000 onwards zip 4t 50 cc four stroke air cooled zip 4t 100 96.2 cc four stroke air cooled zip 125 125 cc four stroke air cooled this list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it . electric scooters edit the new plug in hybrid version of the piaggio mp3 will be equipped with a 125 cc petrol engine and electric motor which offers about 141 mpg us 1.67 l 100 km ; 169 mpg imp and travels 13 miles 21 km using battery power alone . this machine could be out in 2009 . 6 piaggio vespa are also developing hybrid electric scooters . there are two models in the works based on the popular vespa lx 50 and the beefier piaggio x8 125 . 7 references edit a b c 1 2015 26 05 2 2015 02 27 3 annual report 2012 piaggio group 4 piaggio scooters gone green 141 mpg hybrid . treehugger . retrieved 2009 08 10 . vespa unveils hybrid scooters . treehugger . retrieved 2009 08 10 . external links edit italy portal companies portal wikimedia commons has media related to piaggio vehicles . piaggio official website piaggio commercial vehicles v t e automotive industry in italy automotive industry transport in italy economy of italy active manufacturers passenger cars and lcvs alk de tomaso dr ducati ferrari fca italy abarth alfa romeo fiat fiat professional lancia martin maserati fornasari lamborghini oto melara pagani piaggio commercial vehicles bremach cnh industrial italy iveco astra iveco bus quadricycles casalini giottiline grecav italcar racing cars dallara osella picchio racing cars wolf racing cars defunct manufacturers passenger cars and lcvs ats bianchi bizzarrini ceirano chiribiri cisitalia cizeta de tomaso diatto fiat s.p.a. autobianchi innocenti isotta fraschini itala iso o.s.c.a. s.c.a.t. siata commercial vehicles om s.p.a. racing cars stanguellini bandini design engineering and coachbuilding b engineering carrozzeria barbi carrozzeria boneschi carrozzeria castagna carrozzeria ghia carrozzeria touring superleggera fioravanti giannini automobili gruppo bertone i.de.a institute italdesign giugiaro carrozzeria maggiora pininfarina studiotorino zagato components alcantara borrani bremach brembo group ap breco marchesini sabelt colotti trasmissioni dell orto fiat powertrain technologies vm motori fondmetal graziano icp isotta fraschini landi renzo magneti marelli martin oz group pirelli poltrona frau scam sparco spica related topics autostrade bologna motor show turin auto show v t e major and notable italian motorcycle marques current aprilia benelli beta bimota borile cagiva ducati fantic ghezzi & brian gilera italjet minarelli mondial motobi moto guzzi moto morini mv agusta paton piaggio polini swm terra modena vespa vyrus defunct abra 1923 1927 accossato aermacchi