Orin at Scootin’ Old Skool actually retracted his story about the “return of the Stella” (at the time rumored to be around Labor Day). “Giving up” seems to me to be a pretty sure way of making sure the new Stellas are announced any day now. A watched Stella never boils, as they say.
As Orin points out, there have been plenty of obstacles, and no shortage of people who’d like to see the first containerload rolling off a freighter ship. If LML is making scooters that are worth bringing over, Genuine is surely working hard getting them here.
“A watched Stella never boils…” I like that.
Bryan, you’re much closer to this situation than I am, being in Chicago and all… what are you hearing?
Not much, I know they’re trying, I’m guessing there’s either a quality issue, or demand from other markets is so high they haven’t done any for Genuine yet. I’ve also heard rumors they’re trying to make it California-legal.
DOT/EPA homologation shouldn’t be a problem unless they’re making changes, right? So maybe that *is* it. Though it seems just as likely that LML is just not fully back on track yet.
I’ve been told of a rumor that the new Stellas will be 200cc’s, so that would make the idea of the delay being due to emissions certification plausible. Making a 2-stroke California-legal would be a very difficult task, unless someone has discovered a new miracle catalyst, or something.
Of course, from a marketing standpoint this is all good… it’s got the people they want to sell to talking up a storm…
Boy, if I started retracting rumors that never came through, I’d have a lot of deleting to do. Though I could search for “Diamo + Italjet,” and kill it all at once.
I figured a weekly newspaper of somewhat significant circulation quoting the president of the company as saying, in effect, they’ll be here by Labor Day, and a representative of the local dealer saying they’d been told the same thing, put the story beyond rumor.
But stuff happens. I didn’t want to be responsible for perpetuating a story that has turned out not to be true. Of course, if I were Genuine’s p.r. person, I’d have issued a press release that at least clarifies what’s going on and why the deadline hasa slipped. I hope that might happen…
But hey, The full page back cover of the new scoot magazine claims that they’re on their way
NoS
I have been trying to order a new gas guage for my Stella for a few months now. Genuine told me to try again next year! In New Zealand they have the Belladonna (sister to stella) and they told me that they have been to the LML plant this year, and they are delivering orders in full again. I only seem to run out of gas when a Harley goes by. Wierd.