Piaggio decided a few years ago to drop the venerable Vespa PX from production. This didn't have much of an effect on us here in the US, since the one and only year that we could get a PX was 2005. They must not have sold very many of them, because there was no attempt to sell them here again. The market in Europe must have been fairly small as well, and that, coupled with impending strict emissions laws, meant that Piaggio shelved the PX which had been in continuous production in one form or another since 1977. It had a good run, from '77 to '07.
Of course, even though Piaggio wasn't making the PX, that didn't mean that it was not still being made. Production was still going on in India by LML. Those scooters are being sold in the US as the "Stella" by Genuine Scooter. In order to meet strict emissions laws in Europe (and California), LML has recently designed a four stroke motor to fit in the old Vespa chassis.
The LML is currently sold in Europe, and it appears that even though it is a niche market, Piaggio is taking notice. I find it hard to believe, but this article notes that LML has sold about 2,500 Vespa clones in Italy - versus Piaggio selling 5000 of the new automatic LX and GTS models. With that kind of market share, Piaggio seems poised to re-introduce the PX into production. The article seems to say that they will build the standard two stroke motor (presumably only in 125cc trim), and also offer a four stroke version. I hope they do!
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