During World War II the company produced bomber aircraft, but Piaggio emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera plant completely demolished by Allied bombing.
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Piaggio & C. SpA corporate headquarters are located in Pontedera, Italy.
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Vespa thrived, until 1992, when Giovanni Alberto Agnelli became CEO, but Agnelli was already suffering from cancer and died in 1997.
More recently Piaggio have made lifestyle models such as the Ape Cross Country and the Ape Web aimed at the young.
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In 1947, the inventor of the Vespa, aircraft designer Corradino D'Ascanio, came up with the idea of building a light three-wheeled commercial vehicle to power Italy's economical reconstruction, an idea which found favour with Enrico Piaggio, the son of the firm's founder, Rinaldo.
The left-hand drive version offered a load capacity of 500 kg and was intended to compete in Mediterranean countries with vehicles such as Piaggio's Ape (bee).
Piaggio | Teramo Piaggio | Piaggio P.166 | Piaggio Aero | Piaggio P.23R | Piaggio Ape |
Its original Piaggio propellers proved inadequate, but their replacement with Alfa Romeo-built propellers in 1941 resulted in the aircraft having improved performance which, in fact, exceeded expectations.
The company is survived by a struggling small group of Italian motorcycle companies, including Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, Piaggio, Laverda and Ducati.
Ritchie and his long-time personal friend, record-setting balloonist Steve Fossett, broke Chuck Yeager’s transcontinental speed record flying his Piaggio on February 6, 2003.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) is a United States national, not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, and sponsored by the U.S. manufacturers and distributors of BMW, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio/Vespa, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory and Yamaha motorcycles.
The Piaggio P.23R, an Italian transport aircraft prototype of 1936 of a design unrelated to that of the Piaggio P.23
Most Apes are produced in India by Piaggio India, and a similar vehicle is manufactured by Bajaj Auto.
Seeking to avoid the aerodynamic drag induced by floats in seaplanes of floatplane design, Ing Giovanni Pegna of the Piaggio company designed a very unusual seaplane to represent Italy in the 1929 Schneider Trophy race.
Among them are 5 car dealers (makes: Fiat, Iveco, Piaggio, Skoda, MG, Rover), 5 agricultural machinery factories cooperating with Indian Escorts, Swedish Alfa-Laval Agri, Dutch Netagco, and 2 automotive components factories (mechanical car jacks, electrical harnesses, brake & washer fluid reservoirs).
There, he joined Gianfilippo Cuneo's team, and in 1989 he followed Cuneo to the McKinsey spin-off, Bain & Company (former Bain & Cuneo Associati), where he worked on the automotive sector, notably for Piaggio.