Is Merato a decent brand of gas scooter?

Having shopped around for many scooters, from low price to high end, i have figured out that Merato really has it figured out. They produce most of their scooters in two facilities near Shanghai. I know they have a group of European and American Engineers that hand-pick the components that go into these scooters and they have a stringent quality control. I do business in China and I have heard about how rigorous their quality control process is. Many factories in China are trying to copy their quality control discipline and standards. Even Yamaha and Honda are trying to figure out what the Merato guys are doing in China. The rumor is in China that the Merato people are so hard-nosed about quality control that at times, they have shut down entire production lines for days, because the standard was not to their liking. So, I think Merato is in the same ranks as Honda, Vespa and Yamaha. However, they have figured out the way, through mass volume production to keep the price relatively low and keepthe quality high.

I know you can probably buy Chinese scooters that look similar for almost half the price of Merato, but as an engineer, knowing what Merato puts into their components and quality control, i would pay more just for the quality.

I have something to add to this: I bought a Merato scooter in 2009. It was supposed to have a one year parts warranty. After driving it for 90 miles (about 6 days), the rear end locked up on me in the middle of the road. I started fishtailing and could have been killed. I came to find out, verified my Merato's mechanics, they they left the gear oil out of it from the factory. It took them 3 weeks to send replacement parts, all of which were wrong. Then they stopped communicating with me and started giving me the run-around. They wouldn't replace the parts, wouldn't replace the scooter, and whoever I would get on the phone would pass me off to someone else. They were extremely unprofessional (answered the phone by just saying "hello" and swearing in our phone conversations) and are SCAMMERS. I contacted the BBB about them as well as the Michigan State's attorney's office. Merato responded to neither, and I found out they have an "F" rating with the BBB due to all the complaints filed against them that they never respond to.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. They are lucky they do not have a lawsuit from me, or from my spouse who could have sued them had I been injured or killed in that accident. I ended up paying thousands of dollars for this scooter and then the repairs on top of it, all of which were supposed to be under warranty. No one from their company would service me, back me up, or even return my phone calls or emails. I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated I am with this place, and all I can do is just try to prevent other people from being scammed the way I was by them. STAY AWAY!!