“You will look a picture on Lambretta,” said the 1959 ad of the brand, perhaps it feels true more than ever because Lambretta’s journey is like a picture, a picture with a thousand stories behind it waiting to unfold, a picture that breathes life at every stroke.
“It’s often said by many that the first Lambretta scooter was made from the old scaffolding tubes of his company. In 1922, Innocenti moved to the Lambrate district close to Milan, Italy, and started the brand who would have thought a name inspired by a small district would soon rule the world with its style.
There are only very few instances where brands have replaced the actual terminologies of a product.,and Lambretta is one such Iconic Brand. Lambretta as a brand replaced the word scooter in Brazil. In fact, one of Brazil’s most popular dictionaries, Novo Dicionario da lngua Portuguesa, listed Lambretta as a noun/substantive equivalent to a scooter.
In 1947, the first Lambretta Model A or 125M was launched and it was way ahead of its time in terms of design. The engine of the Model A was air-cooled, and to gain access of the contact breaker, the cover is simply twisted and no spanners are needed.
Learning from all this, Innocenti made significant improvements in Model B and the engine had a knuckle joint on the rear with the spring suspension. Later on, tubular steel frames and the technology of engine and gear systems of Model B were combined to produce Model C. Model C became the base for all the future models, and it marked a significant improvement in the scooter technology. The Lambretta Scooters gained considerable popularity across the world.
The Mods became the reason for the growth of Lambretta and other light-range scooters, and slowly, they became a representation of the younger blood.
The trend of motor scooters saw a steep decline as affordable cars started coming into the picture. Still, the young people in London started developing an affinity towards Italian fashion, known as the Mods, and Lambretta became one of the products that were highly accepted and used by this new segment of the audience.
In the 1960s, there were two opposing youth subcultures: the Mods and the Rockers.
Mods took pride in their looks, dressed nicely, and rode scooters like this one. Their name was developed from the modern jazz style of music. Rockers, who also worried about their appearance, rode motorcycles rather than scooters, wore leather jackets, and preferred 1950s Rock & Roll. The two groups’ preferred modes of transportation as well as their musical and fashion preferences, were different. This rivalry started after the movie named Quadrophenia.
The style and aura that Lambretta scooters had reflected the personalities and the choices of the young audience and how they are eager to be unique at every moment.
This is why Lambretta’s design and availability in pastel colors strike a chord with young minds, and this is how they started becoming a part of this brand new pop culture. Popular Bands of the ’60-’70s era, like The Who, had a huge influence on this new trend; even their album Quadrophenia featured Lambretta in different ways. Later on, Franc Roddam created a movie with the same name and even featured Lambretta scooters in some scenes. Matt Damon and Jude Law’s popular movie The Talented Mr. Ripley even showcased the vintage Lambretta scooter in a chase scene.
In 1972, The entire manufacturing and trademark rights for the Lambretta were acquired by the Government of India.
Thereafter, Scooters India Ltd. (SIL), a state-run company with headquarters in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh was set up and the Trademark, along the plant, machinery, designs etc was transferred to SIL Former employees of Innocenti were utilized to establish the Indian factory, as all the manuals and Italians were used for the machine instructions.
Lambretta GP150, was the first scooter made and was sold in India and Internationally. Lambretta quickly became popular and was much sought after in India also.
SIL also supplied fully assembled knockdown kits to other scooters manufacturers in various parts of India who assembled and sold it under other brandnames also.
In order to fully exploit the potential of the Lambretta Brand, the trade mark was licensed out to licensees and sub licensees and a range of Merchandise such as apparel, leather, perfumes watches etc were introduced in UK and other markets.
The licensees continue to use the Trademark even to date. There is also rampant illegal use of the trademark in many parts of the world. Due to the failure of SIL to keep up with technological advancements, other two wheelers gained ground. As the operations of SIL became increasingly unviable, the Government of India decided to shut the operations of SIL and sell the Lambretta and Lambro Trademarks. The trademarks were put to auction and August Ventures Pvt. Ltd., recognising the potential of the brand acquired the same.
A wheel between the glorious past
and the new you.
Be it from accessories to diving into upcoming revolutionary technology, Lambretta is all set to take a new shape in the market and create a value that reflects the authenticity and richness of its brand values as well as it’s known for creating something so sustainable and revolutionary that makes everyone’s life better.