Vespa has announced a special edition of its 946 model, with a 10th anniversary celebration also dedicated to the Chinese New Year, 2023 being the year of the rabbit.
Vespa initially launched the 946 in 2013, and coming into 2023 it is of course now 10 years on from its beginning.
In China, the new year celebrations begin on 22 January, and it is the year of the rabbit in Chinese culture. Vespa describes this as a “symbol and omen of peacefulness, well-being and respect for the past.”
As a result of this combination, Vespa is celebrating the 946’s 10th anniversary with a special edition dedicated to the year of the rabbit.
The Vespa 946 10° Anniversario, as the 10th anniversary special edition will be called, features a green livery featuring rabbit graphics.
Additionally, the scooter features a refined burnished finish on its details, and a black, double-upholstered seat with burnished stitching, sewn by hand with needle and thread (and the same is true of the hand grips).
Oddly, perhaps, Vespa chose not to pick one of the colours which in Chinese culture is lucky for people born in the year of the snake, as the Vespa 946 was in 2013. Its lucky colours are - according to the website Chinese New Year - red, yellow, and black. Black is covered by the seat, grips, and footboard, but the others are missing in favour of the green the Italian manufacturer has chosen.
1,000 units of the Vespa 946 10° Anniversario will be made, and more information on them will be released on 22 January at the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Vespa also says that this 'year of the rabbit' edition of the 946 will be the first of 12 annual special editions in the next 12 years, with each new edition inspired by the lunar horoscope animal of that particular year. Next year's can be assumed to take influence of the dragon, therefore.
