American scooter revival?

Could we see the revival of an American scooter industry? There have been various attempts over the years, more often than not by building an American design in Asia, but it's a long time since the USA has seen a true home-grown product.

That may change, since President Barack Obama recently signed into law a new bill that opens up funding for fuel-efficient vehicles on two and three wheels - four-wheelers are already covered.

According to a report from www.fasterandfaster.net: "As much as US$25b has been allocated to the Department of Energy (DOE) for its ATVM loan program, which is designed to provide cheap capital for retooling old factories to produce vehicles that are at least 25 per cent more fuel-efficient than the average 2005 model car.

"With the new legislation having been signed, all fully enclosed vehicles (including three-wheelers and two-wheelers) that are capable of carrying two adults and achieving at least 75mpg (32km/lt) in terms of fuel efficiency are eligible for getting loans from the DOE."

Full enclosure may seem like a bit of a challenge until you look at designs such as BMW's C1, Benelli's Adiva and even the 750-powered Honda Elysium concept machine, which has an electric roof. With that much money at stake, you'd have to suspect there would be a huge temptation to give it a go.

Scooters and three-wheeled variants like Piaggio's MP3 are a natural, given their clear advantages when comes to having a light environmental footprint in urban traffic.

Honda's case is a particularly interesting one, as it only recently shut down its Ohio motorcycle plant, and would more than likely have a wealth of design choices at its disposal.