The Ape, Piaggio’s historic three-wheeler, will no longer be produced in the Pontedera (Pisa) plant. After 76 years, as reported by Il Tirreno and Nazione, it will be made exclusively in India for the local market where safety and pollution regulations are less stringent than in Europe. Adapting engine and vehicle standards would be a disproportionate cost compared to current sales volumes, which are kept to a minimum.
Hence the decision to convert the Ape lines in the Viale Rinaldo Piaggio plant for the production of the Porter, the commercial vehicle that inherited the market. The decision to say goodbye to the ‘Italian’ Ape would have been communicated by the company to RSU delegates in recent weekswhen the production stop period of the various departments of the plant for the end of the year was explained. Introduced on the market in 1948, the Ape showed all its versatility, transforming itself into a mini taxi on the coast, but also a sort of mobile shop for the sale of all kinds of goods, becoming a true symbol of Made in Italy design .