On April 28, 2012, Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. opened the door of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Baramati, Maharashtra. The facility will be used by this wholly owned subsidiary of Piaggio Group to roll out the iconic scooter Vespa, which has just been unveiled in India. With this new vehicle, the company is set to revolutionise the domestic two wheeler market after making its presence felt in the country's three wheeler space.
Till December 2011, the Italian company has invested Rs. 10 billion into its Indian division. The manufacturing facility has annual production capacity of 1,50,000 units and will be doubled by the mid-2013. Piaggio has already begun ramping up the installed capacity as it expects tremendous demand for the new Vespa in India.
Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation; Praful Patel, Union Minister for Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises; and Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra were among those who presided over the inauguration ceremony. They were joined by Supriya Sule, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Roberto Colaninno, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Piaggio. Along with them, the whole top management of the company was present at the inauguration ceremony.
While talking at the event, Colaninno stated, “It is a historic and proud moment for the Piaggio Group that lays the foundation for us to be a formidable automotive force in India. The investment in Baramati is part of our strategic plan, which sees India as a significant destination in our growth trajectory. The parent company has transferred the latest generation product, process and manufacturing technology to the Indian Vespa plant. The Indian supervisory and managerial staff has extensively worked with their counterparts in Italy to ensure that the standards of quality and reliability are maintained and productivity is enhanced.”
Ravi Chopra, Chairman and Managing Director, Piaggio Vehicles Private Limited (India) expressed his happiness at this moment. This plant, which will be used to produce vehicles as well engines, was erected within just 12 months, including conceptualisation, commissioning and commencement of manufacturing operations.
Speaking about the plant, Chopra commented, “Today is a historical moment for us as Piaggio begins a new chapter of growth in India. The world recognized iconic Vespa will now be produced in Baramati. The operations started with a 100% localisation of components. This was in tune with the Piaggio strategy.”
Piaggio established a huge production unit in order to manufacture three and four wheeler commercial vehicles in the year 1999. It has continuously worked upon bolstering the installed capacity, which started at 20 units a day and today stands at 1000 vehicles per day. Thereafter, the company inaugurated a world class plant to develop technologically advanced, fuel efficient and environment friendly combustion engines. The new facility built to produce the Vespa has now become the latest unit where the company will develop vehicles.
By setting up this new plant at Baramati, Piaggio has created new jobs and will continue to give employment opportunities as the production operations increase in coming time. Presently, the company directly employs more than 3000 individuals as well as many others indirectly in order to continue its operations.
