Remember the
twin-coloured (light & dark blue hues) scooter TMV 6145 owned by my
paternal uncle … .. and memories flooded when this vehicle was seen at TP koil
Street !
Muttaiya Annamalai
Chidambaram – the name may strike a chord but for Corona, we would thronged in
yellow to Chepauk for watching IPL. Chidambaram born at Kanadukathan (remember
Vadivelu !) was instrumental in founding SPIC and was its Chairman. He was Vice President & later President of BCCI, TNCA as
also All India Lawn Tennis
Association. The Chepauk stadium is now
named after him. Lesser known is that he
started off with a scooter factory in Mumbai and later became Director of
Indian Aluminium Company.
Ferdinando
Innocenti was an Italian businessman who founded the machinery-works company
Innocenti and was the creator of a brand of motorscooter. Innocenti started working as an assistant to
a blacksmith in 1907. By 1966, BMC
models – primarily at that date versions of the Mini and the Austin/Morris
1100, assembled to a high standard at Innocenti's Milan plant – accounted for
three percent of the Italian passenger car market. On his death his son, Luigi, who had been
vice-chairman since 1958, succeeded him in the top job at the company he had
founded.
We own vehicles and
possess valid Driving License to drive them too…. honestly, how many of us
underwent the process, passed the test and obtained License in the proper
manner ? …. There are always crowds in
front of RTOs ….. in the interesting
film ‘Indian’ ~ there was dual roles – the real hero was that of Senapathi, a
meticulous old man fighting to weed out corruption ~ the other was Chandra Bose
alias Chandru, a small-time broker outside the RTO who gets people the license
for bribes. Senthil was Panee[r]Selvam – the RTO Officer….
Automobile Products
of India (API) was founded in 1949 at Bombay by the British company Rootes
Group, and later bought over by M. A. Chidambaram. The company manufactured Lambretta scooters,
API Three Wheelers under license from Innocenti of Italy. The manufacturing
facilities were located in Mumbai and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and in
Ambattur, Chennai. Sadly the company has not been operational since 2002.
Auto industry has
been going through a slowdown, marred by a slack in consumption. This has taken
a toll on auto stocks which have been in freefall lately. Economic Times reports that : Auto companies
are set to cut salaries as they seek to reduce costs with the Covid-19 lockdown
having worsened already bleak prospects, said people with knowledge of the
matter, adding that they are trying to avoid sacking people. According to the report Two-wheeler makers
Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor have already
resolved to cut salaries, at least temporarily. Commercial vehicle makers such
as Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors, the hardest hit in FY20, may also do so
shortly, said the people cited above. Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj has said he
won’t be getting a salary through the lockdown period. Apollo Tyres CMD Onkar
Kanwar and vice chairman Neeraj Kanwar will take a 25% salary cut in FY21. TVS
Motor Co’s top management is also expected to take a pay cut in FY21. Annual
increments for other employees are set to be withdrawn for this year.
With
sales at a standstill, most companies are trying to avoid layoffs by cutting
fixed costs such as salaries, said the HR head of an auto company. Amidst the gloom triggered by the COVID-19
pandemic the biggest news from the automotive sphere this week came with the
buy-out of Norton by TVS Motor Company. Indian companies now own five European
bike brands including three that originated in the UK.
Till a couple of
decades ago, most middle class depended on two-wheelers and scooters were once
proud possession ~ in fact were offered
as dowries. There was this nice
advertisement - ‘Hamara Bajaj’ - Bajaj scooters were selling hot – Bajaj
dealers were minting money. Bajaj had
its plant at Akurdi [no longer vehicles roll out from here] ~ and at Aurangabad and Uttaranchal. … There was
the premium Bajaj Chetak, Super, Cub, Viking and more… 100 cc and 150 cc
scooters with engines mounted on the side. Those were the days of Bajaj scooters which
had sort of forced Lambrettas out of the market; Vijay, Lamby were the other names in Scooters
while in motor cycles – it was Rajdoot,
Yezdi (Jawa) and Enfield Bullet. With
not many cars around, the 1980s & early 1990s were the age of two wheelers
and their enthusiastic riders.
Recently, Bajaj became
the first mainstream Indian motorcycle brand to enter the electric space. The
launch of Chetak e version, marks the
return of Chetak after almost 14 years. With
its electric avatar, Bajaj Auto, which
exited scooter segment years ago, has made a comeback in the category, using
the name of one of its most-popular brands.
Getting back to the
vehicle on road – Lamby scooter .. is from Lambretta, initially manufactured in Milan, Italy, by
Innocenti. The name is derived from the word Lambrate, the suburb of Milan
named after the river which flows through the area, and where the factory was
located. Lambretta was the name of a mythical water-sprite associated with the
river which runs adjacent to the former production site.
In 1972, the Indian
government bought the machinery of the Milanese factory, creating Scooters
India Limited (SIL) in order to produce the Lambro three-wheeler under the name
Vikram for the domestic market. Lambretta scooters were also manufactured under
licence by Fenwick in France, API in India, Pasco in Brazil, Auteco in Colombia
and Siambretta in Argentina and in a few other places.
In 1922, Ferdinando
Innocenti of Pescia built a steel-tubing factory in Rome. In 1931, he took the
business to Milan where he built a larger factory producing seamless steel
tubing and employing about 6,000. The factory was heavily bombed and destroyed
during World War II. It is said that, when surveying the ruins, Innocenti saw
the future of cheap, private transport and decided to produce a motor scooter,
competing on cost and weather protection against the ubiquitous motorcycle. The main stimulus for the design style of the
Lambretta and Vespa dates back to pre-World War II Cushman scooters made in
Nebraska, United States. These olive green scooters were in Italy in large
numbers, ordered originally by the United States military as field transport
for the paratroops and marines.
The Indian
government bought the factory for essentially the same reasons that Ferdinando
Innocenti had built it after the war. It was to cater to the needs of middle
income groups who cannot afford to buy cars.
Automobile Products of India (API) began assembling Innocenti-built
Lambretta scooters in India after independence in the 1950s beginning with 48
cc, Ld model, Li 1st series. They eventually acquired a licence to build the
Li150 Series 2 model, which was sold under the Lambretta name until about 1976
and later on changed the name to Lamby for legal reasons.
In 1972, Scooters
India Ltd. (SIL) a state-run enterprise based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, bought
the entire Lambretta manufacturing and trademark rights. The first scooter built was the Vijay
Delux/DL, which was badged the Lambretta GP150 in export markets. This was
later enhanced to become the Vijay Super. SIL also distributed complete knock
downs that were assembled in different parts of India and sold as the Allwyn
Pusphak, Falcon, and Kesri.
Now the scooter
market segment is totally different – for all those models were eliminated as
source of pollution and now we see the gearless Honda Activas, TVS Jupiters
& Suzuki scooters dominating the roads.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
18.4.2020.
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