Vespa Taps Budget-Minded MintLife to Help Consumers Plan a Cleaner, Cheaper Transportation Future

NEW YORK, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --  Vespa USA is joining forces with MintLife, the award-winning blog of Mint.com, the free personal finance website that helps budget-minded Americans track and manage their money.  To encourage consumers to rethink their transportation and commuting choices, MintLife has added motor scooter ownership to its portfolio of cash-conservation tips.  The more than 1 million daily visitors to MintLife will get a reminder that the road to savings – and foreign oil independence – is even faster when it's occasionally traveled on two wheels.  An infographic of how motor scooters can change the urban transportation landscape, along with examples of how major U.S. cities from New York to San Francisco have joined the cause with special incentives for riders, is available at Vespanomics 2020.

Showing the measurable benefits of switching a percentage of vehicle miles to motor scooter miles is just one part of Vespanomics 2020, Vespa USA's forecast of how scooters can contribute to reducing our nation's foreign oil imports by a third by 2025 – the target set by the current administration.  Vespa USA has been committed to educating consumers and officials about the tangible benefits of motor scooter commuting since introducing Vespanomics in 2006. The call to action today is no less urgent.  With fuel prices on the fast track to $4.00 per gallon, finite U.S. oil reserves and a national mandate, the need for reducing gas and oil consumption and ultimately foreign oil dependence is more important than ever.

As the Vespanomics 2020 data points out, it's easy to make an immediate impact. From 1990 through 2000, there has been an average annual increase of 2,325,000 licensed drivers.  Looking forward to the year 2020, it is estimated that we'll have nearly 237 million licensed drivers in the U.S., each averaging 14,274 miles annually. If just 10 percent of these licensed drivers shifted 33 percent of their miles to motor scooters, gasoline consumption would be reduced by 3.9 billion gallons per year.  That's a reduction of 198 million barrels of oil from American ports, saving our nation $21.4 billion per year.  Motor scooters don't just sip fuel; the new generation also runs super clean.  This occasional switch to two wheels would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 77.3 billion pounds annually and create in excess of 100,000 new domestic jobs

If Americans embrace Vespanomics over the course of the next decade, states and cities will need to make strides in ensuring that riders have a safe environment and incentives to switch. Some major cities aren't waiting around – they've taken a leadership role in boosting ridership by creating awareness-building programs and proactively providing attractive incentives.  For example, San Francisco, Boston, Cincinnati, Seattle, and New York have all added special – and in some cases, free – parking for scooter commuters.  

For more information on Vespanomics 2020, visit www.VespaUSA.com or www.vespanomics.com.  For additional updates and news, check in often at www.facebook.com/VespaUSA.

About The Piaggio Group

Established in 1884 by Rinaldo Piaggio and based in Pontedera in Pisa, Italy, the Piaggio Group is one of the world's top manufacturers of two-wheel motor vehicles. With more than 7,000 employees, an annual production of 630,000 vehicles in 2010, five R&D centers, seven production facilities in Europe and Asia and world-wide commercial operations, the Piaggio Group has a consolidated leadership in the European two-wheeler market.  The company produces scooters, motorcycles and mopeds in the 50cc to 1,200cc displacement range, marketed under the Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Derbi, Aprilia, Scarabeo and Moto Guzzi brands.  The Group also manufactures three- and four-wheel light transportation vehicles for the Ape, Porter and Quargo ranges.

SOURCE Vespa USA