Aussies: goodbye PX, hello $10K MP3

The Courier-Mail in Australia reports Piaggio has shipped their last containerload of Vespa PX scooters to Australia. We reported that Vespa PX production effectively ended in December, 2006, though the U.S. received 2007 models (likely manufactured in 2006) and a 30th-anniversary limited edition of 1000 white PXes was released last October in Europe. It’s unclear whether the anniversary and Aussie-market PXes were leftover stock from the 2006 batch, or a later production run.

Also from that story: after a recent AU$1000 price drop, the price of an MP3 250 in Australia is close to US$10,000. I’ll never complain about U.S. scooter prices again.

3 thoughts on “Aussies: goodbye PX, hello $10K MP3”

  1. “…the price of an MP3 250 in Australia is close to US$10,000.”

    Hi, illnoise

    What makes the Australians pay so much more for an MP3 250, I wonder?

    –rakuchina

  2. Dunno for sure, maybe someone else can chime in. Could be import tariffs (protecting the vibrant Australian scooter manufacturing industry?), Could be freight charges (Is Australia really harder to get to from Italy than L.A.?) Could just be inflation and high cost of living, perhaps the Australian homologation process is more grueling and expensive, perhaps the market’s so small that the economies of scale dictate a high price. I’ve always heard if you’re going to Australia, to take a suitcase full of Levis with you and sell them to pay for your flight home. Don’t know if that is still (or was ever) the case, but Western goods are apparently expensive there.

  3. What do you mean “the U.S. received 2007 models (likely manufactured in 2006)?” I thought all the PXes sold here in the last few years were 2005 models.

Comments are closed.