You would hope that somebody like the giant Piaggio Group with all their iconic brands may be able to cheer everyone up with some positive end of year figures, but that is not the case. Group sales revenue fell by 16% and they even posted a fall in the Indian light commercial market of 2.8%. However, they claim the government scrappage incentives that we have reported on here are starting to work and there is a noticeable improvement in the Italian home market.

However, on a very big plus point, the former head of design for Ducati, South African Pierre Terblanche is now working for Piaggio on ‘blue sky’ projects. The 53-year-old, has been working on boats for the past two years designing some five boats for Bobkat who make racing catamarans. Terblanche will be working on all brands across the range, along with former colleague Miguel Galluzzi who designed the Ducati Monster.