Today, every manufacturer wants a piece of the crossover pie. We have an adventure scooter, adventure tourer, electric crossover SUV, crossover motorcycle and probably a crossover motorcycle which is in the development stage. The idea is always the same: Take two different things, smash them together, and tell customers they no longer have to choose.
The funny thing is that Piaggio was doing this long before it became a personality trait of the marketing department.
The company recently unveiled Piaggio Beverly 25th AnniversaryA special edition celebrating 25 years of the scooter, with over 500,000 units sold worldwide. On paper, it’s mostly a cosmetic package. It has a matte metallic gray paint scheme, gold accents, black trim, a smoked windscreen, a fancy seat and enough anniversary badges to remind you that this isn’t the regular Beverly parked next to it.
But the real story isn’t the special edition. There is a machine below it.
Photo by: Piaggio Group
In 2001, the scooter world was a very different place. Scooters were largely seen as practical urban devices. They were great for commuting, grocery runs, and dealing with traffic, but they weren’t exactly known for delivering motorcycle-like handling or highway performance. Then Piaggio came along with the Beverly and decided that maybe the scooter didn’t have to stay in its lane.
Instead of building yet another City, Piaggio gave the Beverly big wheels, motorcycle-inspired chassis hardware, and enough performance to make riders think about what a scooter could really do. It wasn’t quite a motorcycle and it wasn’t quite a traditional scooter. It lived somewhere in between.
And if it sounds familiar, that’s because the Beverly follows basically the same formula that manufacturers are selling under the crossover maxi-scooter banner today.
Photo by: Piaggio Group
The latest Beverly still follows that recipe. Buyers can choose between a 310cc single-cylinder making 27.7 horsepower or a 400cc version producing 35.9 horsepower and 27.8 pound-feet of torque. These numbers may not seem outrageous in a world where adventure bikes routinely crack triple-digit horsepower figures, but remember we’re talking about a step-through scooter.
A scooter with around 36 horsepower is capable of traveling on highways, carrying a passenger and making city traffic a complete non-event.
What’s interesting is how modern the Beverly’s original concept still looks. Stability, scooter practicality, motorcycle-inspired mobility, long-range capability and large wheels for urban convenience. If a manufacturer launched that exact pitch today, they would probably market it as a performance-oriented maxi-scooter type-thing and charge extra for the sticker. Instead, Piaggio did it 25 years ago and simply called it the Beverly.
Photo by: Piaggio Group
The anniversary models start at 6,050 euros (about $7,000 USD) for the 310 and 7,050 euros (about $8,160 USD) for the 400. Special paint and trim are nice, but they’re really a reminder of something bigger. Long before crossover became the hottest term in the transportation industry, Piaggio had already discovered that riders wanted the best parts of many worlds.
For US-based riders interested in this kind of versatility, Piaggio actually sells the Beverly platform bv400 Surname. However, with MSRP starting at $7,649 USD, that’s a bit steep for a scooter, so it makes sense that riders gravitate toward machines like the Honda NX500 and Kawasaki KLE 500 that offer the “full” motorcycle experience for less money.