CarBrandLogos archive · Vespa · 1968
The small-frame classic of 1968, and the name Piaggio keeps returning to.
Discover the storyPhoto: Adrian Michael · Public domain
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Vespa Primavera, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The original Primavera appeared in 1968 as the sharp end of Piaggio's small-frame range: a 125 cc development of the 90 and 125 Nuova with a longer wheelbase, a livelier engine and better handling than the 50s that shared its body. It was light, quick enough to be entertaining in traffic, and cheap — the machine on which a very large number of Italians learned to ride, and a fixture of urban life through the 1970s.
2021 Vespa Primavera 75th, front left · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0
02
Piaggio brought the name back in 2013 for a modern small-frame scooter built at Pontedera, offered with four-stroke engines in 50, 125 and 150 cc forms. The current car has fuel injection, disc brakes, LED lighting and a steel monocoque body pressed in the traditional Vespa manner, and sits below the larger GTS in the range.
Vespa Primavera 80th 2026 · MotorideSA · CC BY-SA 4.0
03
The two machines share a name and a size class rather than any components, but the intent is the same: the smallest Vespa worth taking seriously.
Vespa Primavera Red · MotorideSA · CC BY-SA 4.0
Technical specification
Contemporaries from the 1960s
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