The Piaggio Group USA, a US subsidiary of the famed Italian maker of Vespa scooters, is giving Vespa riders and enthusiasts a chance to express their passions with the launch of its "Go Green Vespa Video Challenge."

Launched on August 20th, potential entrants have until October 15th to make a video (15 seconds - 2 minutes in length) that highlights "Vespanomics," or the facts about scooters’ contributions to reducing gas consumption, carbon emissions and traffic congestion. A few claims made by Vespa:

• Did you know that if Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to scooters, they would save roughly $42 million on gas and consume 14 million gallons less fuel PER DAY (based on $3/gal average).
• If Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to
  scooters, carbon dioxide emissions could also be reduced by 324 million
  pounds per day.
• By shifting the daytime vehicle mix to 80 percent cars / 20 percent
  scooters in the Manhattan (New York City) Central Business District
  (stretching from 60th Street to the lower tip of Manhattan), there
  would be a total decrease in delay of more than 4.6 million hours per
  year - which translates to time savings of nearly 100 working hours per
  person annually.

The prizes for winners are, as you might guess, Vespa scooters. The grand prize winner takes home a GTS, second place scores an LX150, and third place a LX50. Official contest rules are available here.

Apparently, Vespa also has hybrid scooters in the prototype stage… we’ll keep an eye on this.