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2008 Piaggio MP3 400 & 500
Three’s Company
It takes a lot to catch the jaded eye of a typical New Yorker. But here we are in the metropolis astride Piaggio’s second wave of funky 3-wheeled MP3 scooters, drawing long stares everywhere we go. One urban hipster eyeing the passel of Piaggios exclaims, with just the right amount of mock irony, “Are you guys from the future?”
No, son, we are from the past – 2006, to be precise. That's the year Piaggio first unleashed this ingenious scooter upon U.S. shores. The front-end of the MP3, if you recall, features two wheels linked by a clever suspension that allows motorcycle-like leaning (counter-steering) while maintaining car-like levels of front-end grip. First launched with a 250cc motor and with very cautious sales goals, it managed to become Piaggio's bestselling scooter in just one year. That success begat the 2008 launch of two new models – younger brothers, if you will – featuring 400cc and 500cc motors to address American rider's seemingly unquenchable thirst for more power.
With these larger models, Piaggio hopes to capitalize on the growth of the maxi-scooter market, a segment that's grown 65 percent in the last three years alone. Scooters in general are seeing an upswing in sales, with some suggesting the high cost of gasoline as a primary motivator, and Piaggio invited us on an overnight trip from New York City to the wilds of Connecticut to ride them.
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