Category: Scooter News

Rahul Bajaj elected to Rajya Sabha

Patriarch of the Bajaj family and former Bajaj Auto president, Rahul Bajaj was elected to the Rajya Sabha (Indian Congress) today, taking a seat left empty when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan was killed in a family dispute (Bajaj’s own recent family disputes were settled only slightly more discreetly). He had the support of several parties and won with 195 of 288 votes (with three abstaining). Bajaj is well-known as opposing “reservations,” an Indian-government plan to expand hiring and education admission quotas to include more lower-caste Indian citizens. Students and middle-class workers have taken to the streets recently to protest the quotas in recent weeks.

Organized Drag Racing
at Scooter Weekend Meinerzhagen

A sign of scooter rallies to come in the U.S.?  I could only hope.  Also, I could only hope to not stick out like the creepy old guy hanging out near the playground.

From the Scooter Center scootermatic news letter:

The Whitsun bank holiday weekend is over and so is a superlative Scooter weekend! Despite of two accidents on Saturday morning it was a great weekend with lots of joy for everyone – custom scoots, racing, sprinting and meeting great people! Thanks a lot goes to our customer MCE Sport Matthiesen for the invitation as well as for the properly organised Run. We are looking forward to next year Whitsun – a day off and awesome good scooter meeting!!! What else one can want!?

 Small, grainy, but none the less interesting photos here.

The Wall Street Journal on Piaggio’s “comeback”

After starting out with the obligatory (Jesus, make them stop) “Audrey Hepburn lead,” yesterday’s Wall Street Journal story (syndicated here because the WSJ won’t share) about Piaggio’s “comeback” goes on to say:

[In] 2003, the company, based outside of Pisa, found itself in such dire straits that it teetered on the brink of default. Years of revolving-door management and millions of euros squandered on ill-conceived expansion plans had saddled Piaggio with crushing debts and left it vulnerable to competition from cheaper Asian rivals.

The Journal credits Roberto Colaninno and his staff with turning the company around, and they are making progress. Piaggio’s back in the black, but many of the very changes the WSJ praises are the same actions that caused trouble in the past. How are these new Chinese joint ventures less risky than the ones that fell apart ten years ago? How is the current Asian competition less of a threat? Why is the purchase of Aprilia and Moto Guzzi any more promising than the other dozen mergers and acquisitions Piaggio’s fumbled before? Is Piaggio really leading an Italian manufacturing revival, or are they assembling mostly Asian-made components on an Italian assembly line? Does Piaggio finally have their act together, or are they just riding a lucky wave of nostalgia and high gas prices?

It’s certainly a bit of both. The management, both in the U.S. and worldwide offices, seems to be more focused and Piaggio definitely remains a worldwide technology (and style) leader. Their public offering, even though it’s likely to be delayed, will help stabilize the company, too. Still, they can’t let their guard down, the scooter industry is never smooth sailing, especially in Italy and the United States. Colaninno has been quoted several times lately calling North America Piaggio’s most critical growth market. U.S. sales, support, and supply have improved in the past year, but if they’re serious about conquering the U.S., there’s still a lot more work to do.

Rahul Bajaj backed for Indian government seat.

Rahul BajajDNA – India reports that Rajul Bajaj has been backed by a coalition of parties for a vacant seat on the Rajya Sabha, the upper legislative house of the Indian government (roughly parallel to the U.S. Senate). Rahul Bajaj is the grandson of Jamnalal Bajaj, a close friend of Ghandi who was active in the fight for Indian independence. Jamnalal Bajaj founded the Bajaj group of companies in the ’30s. Rahul Bajaj became CEO of Bajaj in 1968, passing the title to his son Rajiv in April 2004. Rahul was ranked the 20th richest person in India in 2005, even after the Bajaj empire was split between Rahul and his brother Shishir Bajaj.