Piaggio's 25-Year-Old Scooter Idea Somehow Still Makes Sense Today

The Piaggio Beverly 25th Anniversary isn't just a special edition. It's a reminder of who got the crossover formula right first.

Photo by: Piaggio Group

By: Enrico Punsalang

Jun 14, at 8:19am ET

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Today, every manufacturer wants a piece of the crossover pie. We've got adventure scooters, adventure tourers, electric crossover SUVs, crossover motorcycles, and probably a crossover microwave somewhere in development. The idea is always the same: take two different things, smash them together, and tell customers they no longer need to choose.

The funny thing is Piaggio was doing that long before it became a marketing department personality trait.

The company just unveiled the Piaggio Beverly 25th Anniversary, a special edition celebrating 25 years of a scooter that's sold more than 500,000 units worldwide. On paper, it's mostly a cosmetic package. There's a matte metallic gray paint scheme, gold accents, black trim, a smoked windscreen, a fancy seat, and enough anniversary badges to remind you this isn't the regular Beverly parked next to it.

But the real story isn't the special edition. It's the machine underneath it.

Photo by: Piaggio Group

Back in 2001, the scooter world was a very different place. Scooters were largely viewed as practical urban appliances. They were great for commuting, grocery runs, and squeezing through traffic, but they weren't exactly known for delivering motorcycle-like handling or highway performance. Then Piaggio showed up with the Beverly and decided that maybe a scooter didn't have to stay in its lane.

Instead of building another city runabout, Piaggio gave the Beverly larger wheels, motorcycle-inspired chassis hardware, and enough performance to make riders rethink what a scooter could actually do. It wasn't quite a motorcycle and it wasn't quite a traditional scooter. It lived somewhere in the middle.

And if that sounds familiar, it's because the Beverly follows basically the same formula manufacturers are selling today under the crossover maxi-scooter banner.

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. Those numbers might not sound outrageous in a world where adventure bikes regularly crack triple-digit horsepower figures, but remember we're talking about a step-through scooter.

A scooter making nearly 36 horsepower is more than capable of cruising highways, carrying a passenger, and making city traffic a complete non-event.

What's amusing is how modern the Beverly's original concept still looks. Large wheels for stability, scooter practicality, motorcycle-inspired dynamics, long-distance capability, and urban convenience. If a manufacturer launched that exact pitch today, they'd probably market it as a performance-oriented maxi-scooter type-thing and charge extra for the stickers. Instead, Piaggio did it 25 years ago and simply called it the Beverly.

Photo by: Piaggio Group

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The anniversary model starts at 6,050 euros (around $7,000 USD) for the 310 and 7,050 euros (around $8,160 USD) for the 400. The special paint and trim are nice, but they're really just a reminder of something bigger. Long before crossover became the hottest buzzword in the transportation industry, Piaggio had already figured out that riders wanted the best parts of multiple worlds.

For US-based riders interested in this kind of versatility, Piaggio actually sells the Beverly platform stateside under the BV400 moniker. With an MSRP starting at $7,649 USD, however, it's a bit steep for a scooter, so it's understandable that riders gravitate towards machines like the Honda NX500 and Kawasaki KLE 500 which offer the "full" motorcycle experience for less money.