Dealers get a Stella 4T Update

Genuine dealers finally got an official update today on the status of the 4-stroke Stella. In short, the first batch was not manufactured to the specifications approved for import. Genuine explains that the fault lays with the manufacturer (LML) and that the variation was “easily corrected,” non-mechanical and not emissions- or safety-related. Plans are underway to return the first batch for correction and have a second corrected batch manufactured and delivered ASAP. The word (literally) on Modern Buddy is “October.” That’s a painfully long wait for folks with deposits at their dealers since late spring, but it’s good to hear there’s a plan in motion.

Thanks, Bosco and Ron!

7 thoughts on “Dealers get a Stella 4T Update”

  3. Gossip was that the delay of the LMLs was not unrelated to Appenine influence. Even if they are coming in October it’s a ‘successful’ delay from someones point of view.

  4. I would say if there’s any invisible hand fisting Genuine here, that arm is connected to China, not Italy.
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  6. Ah, Brooke, I heard vague rumors about that, but nothing but rumors, so I never brought it up. It’s a great conspiracy theory, if it’s true, we’ll find out sooner or later.

    There was talk that Piaggio wanted to stop the 4T Stella because they had a similar bike in the works. I really doubt that second part, because Piaggio has had 30 years to modernize the Vespa within its original frame, and never seemed even marginally interested. So I don’t think it has anything to do with a new Vespa, but IIRC there was some legal action in other markets, and PiaggioUSA would surely like to see Genuine slowed down, so I guess anything’s possible. You’d just think they’d target LML via Italy, not Genuine via New York. The U.S. market’s not worth fighting over right now.

    I think it all has more to do with a very late response to the hordes of junk scooters soaring into the US over the past decade. I’m all for tight regulation, I like safety and accountability. And “good” brands don’t deserve looser restrictions, or a blind eye, they should have to meet all the same requirements as the other guys. So Customs probably did the right thing here, it just stings to see them nitpicking what we all know is a quality scooter sold by a company that works hard to stay legal and accountable.

    I also suspect it has something to do with this story, if this certification consultant was rigging documents for four companies, and bragging that they work with “over 100” top manufacturers, I’d suspect anything that was recently submitted by that company and approved is being looked over very closely. I don’t know if Genuine worked with them or not, though, and it might be entirely unrelated.

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