In Phnom Penh, the Vespa Comes Back ‘Officially’

“Vespa was in Cambodia before the war … [and] Piaggio wanted to come back to the market in Cambodia, because the market is growing,” explained Frederic Bachelet, head of business development at Narita Vespa Co. Ltd. The company plans to break ground next week on the country’s first licensed Vespa showroom and expects to begin selling the Italian scooters by early September. “We’re targeting the middle society class and the people who want to have something a bit different. … Narita Vespa’s aims are both modest and ambitious. The company expects to sell 500 units by the year’s end, and “thousands” by the end of 2013. Plans are already afoot for Vespa showrooms in Battambang and Siem Reap cities for the following year. … Though the company doesn’t break down sales by country, Piaggio scooter sales in Southeast Asia have skyrocketed in recent years, jumping 75.9 percent between 2010 and 2011. Nearly 105,000 scooters were sold last year in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The number of Vespa importers in Vietnam, meanwhile, has increased tenfold between 2008 and 2012. …