Indian Reincarnation
In
the mid 1970s the Indian government saw an opportunity in the capital
equipment leftover from Innocenti’s activities. Seeing an opportunity to
create vehicles that would meet the needs of the poor and low income in
that country, India had all the equipment shipped to their location and
set up for new production.
The Indian company that would take on the Lambretta moniker was Automobile Products of India, otherwise known as API. API’s own rich history began in 1949 in what was then known as the British colonial city name of Bombay. Today renamed Mumbai, API started with the licensing and production capability for the second in the Lambretta model series of scooters and produced a 150cc engine model based on similar design.
GP 200, Blurbit, 2008.
However, it was Scooters India Limited that ended up with the Lambretta name, so API was not able to use it for its own scooter models. Instead, their first model used the moniker, Lamby 150, as a twist on the name. 175cc version was also created titled the MAC 175, but it was short-lived.
By the 1980s the 150cc model was redesigned again and produced now as the Lamby Polo 150. It favored a sleeker look, trying to upscale from the Series 2 approach to the Indian version of a Series 3 model. Unfortunately, this model too was not well received by the Indian consumer. Eventually, the API manufacturing process for scooters also closed down and was finished in 2002.
Scooters India Ltd.
A little bit after API gained its licensing in the 1960s to start producing Lambrettas, Scooters India Lid, or SIL, fired up their competition in 1972. SIL was another government operated vehicle producer, but their facilities were situated in Lucknow. SIL came late in the game of acquisition and was able to grab the last Lambretta licensing rights for the GP 150 model Lambretta. It would end up being one of the most popular models reincarnated decades later. Retitled Vijay Supers, the Indian GP 150 was marketed as a pure Indian scooter, even though everything about it was Lambretta. The first era of SIL production ran until 1998 when SIL shut the factories down on their own end as well. Instead, they shifted attention over to making scooter-designed engine trucks with three wheels named Vikrams.
Multiple other activities, licensing schemes, and redesigns occurred over the years following, but none really kickstarted the Lambretta again as a scooter. Even with the renewed interest in the Vespa scooter and its modern re-issue by the late 1990s, the Lambretta remained in the past with no savior to resurrect it again.
Presently, the Innocenti name and brand continues to float around in the legal world, currently being owned by the car company, Fiat. SIL still retains the rights to the Lambro and Lambretta names, even though the company is not using them. Instead, the names are licensed out for passive revenue-making, as other companies use the titles and their history to sell other products such as clothes or watches, for example.
In
the mid 1970s the Indian government saw an opportunity in the capital
equipment leftover from Innocenti’s activities. Seeing an opportunity to
create vehicles that would meet the needs of the poor and low income in
that country, India had all the equipment shipped to their location and
set up for new production.The Indian company that would take on the Lambretta moniker was Automobile Products of India, otherwise known as API. API’s own rich history began in 1949 in what was then known as the British colonial city name of Bombay. Today renamed Mumbai, API started with the licensing and production capability for the second in the Lambretta model series of scooters and produced a 150cc engine model based on similar design.
GP 200, Blurbit, 2008.
However, it was Scooters India Limited that ended up with the Lambretta name, so API was not able to use it for its own scooter models. Instead, their first model used the moniker, Lamby 150, as a twist on the name. 175cc version was also created titled the MAC 175, but it was short-lived.
By the 1980s the 150cc model was redesigned again and produced now as the Lamby Polo 150. It favored a sleeker look, trying to upscale from the Series 2 approach to the Indian version of a Series 3 model. Unfortunately, this model too was not well received by the Indian consumer. Eventually, the API manufacturing process for scooters also closed down and was finished in 2002.
Scooters India Ltd.
A little bit after API gained its licensing in the 1960s to start producing Lambrettas, Scooters India Lid, or SIL, fired up their competition in 1972. SIL was another government operated vehicle producer, but their facilities were situated in Lucknow. SIL came late in the game of acquisition and was able to grab the last Lambretta licensing rights for the GP 150 model Lambretta. It would end up being one of the most popular models reincarnated decades later. Retitled Vijay Supers, the Indian GP 150 was marketed as a pure Indian scooter, even though everything about it was Lambretta. The first era of SIL production ran until 1998 when SIL shut the factories down on their own end as well. Instead, they shifted attention over to making scooter-designed engine trucks with three wheels named Vikrams.
Multiple other activities, licensing schemes, and redesigns occurred over the years following, but none really kickstarted the Lambretta again as a scooter. Even with the renewed interest in the Vespa scooter and its modern re-issue by the late 1990s, the Lambretta remained in the past with no savior to resurrect it again.
Presently, the Innocenti name and brand continues to float around in the legal world, currently being owned by the car company, Fiat. SIL still retains the rights to the Lambro and Lambretta names, even though the company is not using them. Instead, the names are licensed out for passive revenue-making, as other companies use the titles and their history to sell other products such as clothes or watches, for example.
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