Buzz On, La Vespa!
Transport for the common people with mobility and economic recovery in mind…
Not exactly a car but definitely utility transport for the people, in the form of a motor-scooter destined to become the epitome of Euro-chic. The Model T Ford was introduced, early in the twentieth-century as a tool to drive the USA toward prosperity. In late 1930s the KDF was a way to raise war funds, but immediately after the defeat of Nazi Germany it was rebranded as the VW Beetle, a vehicle for international commerce to aid the country’s recovery. The idea of a vehicle for the people was taken up in parallel by France with its Citroën 2CV and in post-war Italy with the Piaggio Vespa.
Italy was another country responding to the need for post-war economic recovery by offering its workforce better mobility in the form of cheap vehicles when raw materials and fuel were in desperately short supply. The nation’s infrastructure was broken. Roads were still being cleared and rebuilt. Many routes were not always reliable for the few cars.
Yet, to repair and renew that infrastructure, a significant workforce needed to be efficiently mobilised when much of the ‘working class’, even before war, had not been able to afford independent transport. Now there was a need for affordable vehicles capable of navigating the collapsing, cratered roads…
