Relunch Practices in India with a Special Focus on Relaunch of Vespa Brand - An Investigation

Vespa scooters from Piaggio, Italy were one of the most iconic brands in the Indian scooter segment during the 80s and 90s. This was the phase when two wheeler segments was mostly dominated by scooters with leading players like Bajaj and Piaggio.Slowly two wheelers markets saw a gradually shift from...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Badal Rath, Surjit Kumar Kar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Srusti Academy of Management 2014-06-01
Series:Srusti Management Review
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.srustimanagementreview.ac.in/paperfile/159003799_Relaunch%20Practices%20in%20India%20with%20Special%20%20-%20An%20Investigation-%20Badal%20Rath%20&%20Surjit%20Kumar%20Kar-Vol.%20-%20VII%20%20%20Issue%20I%20%20Jan%20-%20Jun%202014.pdf
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Summary:Vespa scooters from Piaggio, Italy were one of the most iconic brands in the Indian scooter segment during the 80s and 90s. This was the phase when two wheeler segments was mostly dominated by scooters with leading players like Bajaj and Piaggio.Slowly two wheelers markets saw a gradually shift from scooters with gears to gearless scooters. Currently since last decade Indian two wheeler market is flooded with gearless/automatic scooters and motorcycles with gear thus scooters with gears were virtually out of the Indian market. Major players in two wheeler segments are Delhi-based Honda, followed by Hero Motor Corp and TVS Motors. Piaggio decided to re-enter the scooter segment in India with re launch of the Vespa brand last year in the highly competitive two wheeler segment with Vespa LX125.The entry was no doubt with a big bang by launching a premium model at a price of Rs 66,661 (ex showroom). Vespa launch price was significantly expensive when compared with the highest selling scooter Honda Activa which is available it a price of Rs 51,220. While Piaggio believes that it has no intention to launch or enter the low cost segment which is highly competitive, charging high price by creating a premium category in the scooter segment might be one of the strategies which if successful will pave the way for launching new products in emerging countries like India by creating a price differentiation on the higher side and not by reducing the price to enter the market. This article through secondary research is focussing on the various re launch strategies and their implications with a focus on Vespa brand from Piaggio in India.
ISSN:0974-4274
2582-1148