When it comes to Italian cool for the masses it’s hard to go past a Vespa.
For over 70 years the iconic little Italians have revved up the lives of many a commuter all over the globe. While the marque is no stranger to our shores, Kiwi Vespa fans finally have a place to call home with the opening of Vespa Auckland.
It’s hard to believe that such a prominent brand such as Vespa has never had an exclusive dealership in New Zealand before. With over 70 years of history and a large passionate fanbase, it seems like the Italian brand has been underutilised in the Kiwi market.
That all changes with the opening of Auckland Vespa in the heart of the city’s historic Victoria Park Market.
The brainchild of a group of passionate Vespisti, including Motomail’s Chris Hyland - the previous Auckland dealer - Auckland Vespa is injecting more than a new location into the brand’s presence here.
With its fit-out completed just prior to lockdown, Auckland Vespa is set to be one of the first completely new automotive dealerships to open post-lockdown.
Featuring a range of bikes on display and access to Piaggio’s full catalogue of all things Vespa, the new dealership is also well set up as a destination.
“It’s an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful place, says Auckland Vespa General Manager Daniel McGrane.
“It's a boutique, so it's a place where people can come in and look at the bikes on display and everything's available. They can go on the iPads and look at all the different colours and choose some accessories from there, and it can all be bought online or it can be sold traditionally over the counter.”
As a concept, the Vespa Auckland shop is definitely on the front line of the new way of thinking around attracting customers into dealerships. No longer is having a stock of bikes enough, with the customer experience part of the core thinking behind how the new dealership has been created.
When it comes to servicing Auckland Vespa still retains the previous workshop space in College Hill Road’s Motomail store.
“It's the real deal, you know? McGrane continues.
“The people who were really into it were super passionate and we all will be says on the tin and our dealerships gorgeous. Our concept of what we're trying to offer people is pretty unique and we're not just in this for the money when the money helps us to live, living is about this brand and it might sound corny, but it's true.”
“We've built this project because we wanted it to exist, and it didn't exist in New Zealand and it doesn't a few places but it's not hard to get right if you sell in the real deal.”
Vespa Auckland is located at Shop 15 in Auckland’s Victoria Park Market and online at aucklandvespa.co.nz.
