Three years after the death of Joseph Stalin, his replacement Nikita Khrushchev began a very slight ideological opening accompanied by a profound de-Stalinization of the system. Without ceasing to be faithful to the purest Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, the leader of the USSR understood that his country must definitively leave behind the war economy and piece-rate production that was still dragging on after the world conflict and make small advances that would foster improving the standard of living of citizens.
One of these advances had to necessarily involve having a popular vehicle that would energize the punished Soviet society and facilitate its mobility. It also had to be an economical vehicle that did not alter too much the ideological bases of a system that understood private vehicles as a capitalist luxury.
The Vespa phenomenon had just begun in Europe and the Kremlin was no stranger to it or to the fact that the Italian scooter was exactly what they needed… but there was a serious problem and that was that the USSR was not willing to recognize in any way the intellectual property of Piaggio.
The most paradoxical thing is that on the part of the Pontedera brand there probably would not have been any problem in negotiating it since its great international expansion had been based, precisely, on granting licenses in Spain, the United Kingdom, the USA, India and even Taiwan. Surely more bureaucracy and more controls would have been needed because it was a communist country but absolutely nothing prevented Piaggio at that time from selling Vespas under license to the Soviet Union.
But in the Kremlin they were emphatic: in no way would “royalties” be paid to a capitalist country. That would be like making the world understand that the Soviet industry (the same one that manufactured the MIG 15 fighters and the powerful T-34 tanks) was not capable of manufacturing a simple and modest scooter.
Khrushchev put his men to work and gave them six months to present a viable prototype; Before the end of 1957, the project of the great Soviet scooter had to be ready for production.
And when an order this blunt was given from the Politburo… either it was strictly followed or some poor unfortunate ended up enjoying the beautiful landscape of the frozen tundra in Siberia.
It was then that the KGB went into action and managed to get half a dozen GS 150 Vespas to Moscow, which were conveniently dismantled down to the last screw.
Just six months later, the USSR proudly presented its citizens with the Vyatka VP150, whose name referred to the river that crossed its production site in Kirov; although you didn’t have to be a lynx to notice the phonetic similarity with “Vespa”.
The brand new scooter was manufactured by the “Vyatko Polyanksy Molot”, the same plant that produced the legendary PPSH submachine gun carried by the Red Army during World War II.
The Vyatka was noticeably more voluminous, it was less finished, its tires were larger and it weighed 16 kilos more than the original, essentially because the Soviets used conventional steel sheets much thicker than those of aeronautical origin that Piaggio used. Its 150 cc engine delivered 4.5 HP compared to the 8 of the Western one and reached 70 km/h instead of the 100 km/h that was declared for the Italian ones.
Its price was not excessive, but neither was it economical in terms of the very poor Soviet salaries; It cost 350 rubles. The average salary of a skilled worker could be around 3,000 rubles per year. A GAZ 21 car (assuming that the State had authorized its acquisition by a private individual, something practically impossible) cost 2,500 rubles.
Of course, as soon as those responsible for Piaggio saw Vyatka, they cried out loud. That violated each and every one of the international patent regulations and they sued the “Vyatko Polyansky Molot” before the World Trade Office and the Italian courts although, obviously, the owner of the trademark was the Soviet State and little could be done about it. full Cold War against a hermetic USSR that insisted on not playing by the same rules as Western countries.
Finally, in 1965, after 300,000 units manufactured, the “Soviet Vespa” ceased production and began its life as a desired collector’s item.
