Assembly in Action: Plastic Cuts Cost of Motorcycle Engines
In 1946, Piaggio SpA (Pontedera, Italy) created the world’s first mass-produced scooter, the Vespa. Almost 60 years later, the Vespaand Piaggioare still going strong and adapting with the times.
For example, to meet stringent European emission and noise requirements, Piaggio recently developed a pair of four-valve, liquid-cooled, low-emission motorcycle engines: a 125-cc model and a 180-cc model. To save money and reduce weight, Piaggio molded the engine covers from 35 percent glass-reinforced Zytel HTN polyamide from DuPont Engineering Polymers (Wilmington, DE).