US Scooter, Motorcycle Makers Get Stimulus Shot

DAISY NGUYEN

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of motorcycles and scooters shifted into high gear last year when gas prices soared. Then recession-wary consumers hit the brakes.

Now, like so many other industries, the makers of two-wheeled, fuel-efficient bikes are relying on tax breaks offered in the federal stimulus package and other incentives to get sales moving again, while easing gas consumption.

"Even before we quote the price, we tell people how much they can get off the bike," said Jeff Bosco Biafore, a salesman at the San Jose Motorsport Scooter Center in Northern California.

Under the stimulus plan, the same provision that lets taxpayers deduct sales and excise taxes on the purchase of a new car or truck also applies to a motorcycle or scooter. They also can get a 10 percent federal tax credit if they buy plug-in bikes.

Before the federal incentives kicked in Feb. 17, California offered a $1,500 rebate for certain electric scooters, but there were so many applications that funding for the $1.8 million program for alternative fuel vehicles ran out.