CarBrandLogos archive · Vespa · 1957

Vespa400

Piaggio's microcar, built in France so as not to provoke Fiat.

Photo: BlueBreezeWiki · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Vespa history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Vespa 400, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Piaggio had the manufacturing capability to build a small car by the mid-1950s and a clear reason not to build it in Italy: Fiat dominated the domestic market and had been a good deal more useful to Piaggio as a neighbour than as an enemy. So the Vespa 400, launched in 1957, was assembled in France by ACMA at Fourchambault.

Vespa 400 Dashboard · JeDi at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Design and engineering

It was properly designed rather than improvised. A two-cylinder two-stroke sat behind the rear axle driving the rear wheels, the roof rolled back in fabric, there were two seats with a bench behind for luggage or small children, and the whole thing was around three metres long. Contemporary testers found it better resolved than most bubble cars — it had four wheels, independent suspension and reasonable handling, which several of its competitors did not.

Vespa 400 Engine · JeDi at English Wikipedia · Public domain

In production

The timing was the problem. Fiat's Nuova 500 arrived the same year with a bigger company behind it and a network that reached every Italian town, and Europe's economic recovery was already pulling buyers up out of the microcar class altogether. Production ended in 1961. It remains the only car Piaggio has built for the public, and the closest the Vespa name has come to four wheels.

Vespa 400 Bailly Mars 2011 · Lebubu93 · CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance