Both Innocenti and Piaggio set up factories to produce scooters in other countries outside of Italy. In some cases it was a full blown manufacturing center, and in other cases, they sent "kit" scooters to be assembled in the target country. I guess it was all dependent in the particular country's import rules.
One of those transplant factories was in Brazil. I'm not entirely sure whether it was ever an official subsidiary of Innocenti, but the factory eventually ended up as an independent company which licensed Lambretta production. In fact, Lambretta production in Brazil outlasted production in Italy. (as it also did in Spain and India). The Brasilians started off with D/Ld scooters, and then moved on to Series II Lambrettas. They eventually went their own way, and built some pretty interesting Series III hybrids, and even a really odd looking Lambretta-powered mini bike!
A friend of the site from Brasil sent us a link to a photo gallery showing a lot of cool Brazilian scooters. The scooter scene in Brazil seems to be alive and well! The site also has a really nice history of Lambretta production in Brazil. Another interesting site, if you read Portuguese is the Lambretta Brasil blog.
Below the jump is a crude and abbreviated translation of the history of Lambretta production in Brazil from the site. Apologies if my translation is bad/wrong.
The Lambretta was the first vehicle plant in Brazil, even pulling ahead of the automobile industry of Brazil's Lambretta factory-Mechanical Industries SA in 1955 as a licensee of Inocentti in the neighborhood of Lapa in São Paulo. Production between 1958 and 1960, the heyday of the brand, the amount exceeded 50,000 units per year.
In 1960 the Li model was released in Brazil. This was the same as the Li Series II which debuted in Italy in October 1959. The "Lambrecar" was also introduced at this time (ed note: I assume this was the same as the three-wheeler Lambro).
In 1964 the factory launched a version of the Li with a more powerful engine, called the Model X 175cc. The factory changed its name to Industrial Co. Pasco Lambretta: Pasco is the abbreviation for Pascowitch, the last name of the owner of the company.
In 1970 Philip Pugliese, the largest shareholder at that time, bought the plant and changed the corporate name of the factory to Brumana Pugliese & SA - Industry and Trade of Engines and Vehicles. They tried to revive Lambretta production into the 70's. New facilities were built in via Anhangüera with 19 thousand square meters of constructed area. Complete equipment was purchased to produce a 125cc motor (ed note: I think this was a Minarelli motor).
In 1971, an attempt to build market share, they launched a Lambretta motor scooter/mini-bike hybrid called the the Xisp. It used the Lambretta 150 and 175 motor, but had a completely different body. The Xisp was in production until 1979.
By the early 70's, competition in Brazil as fierce. There was a local auto industry at that tmie, and the motorcycle market was complicated by the entry of Japanese manufacturers. The Lambretta factory in Brazil nearly closed at this time.
In 1976 the moped boom saw the release of the Brumana Pugliese Pony from Brazilian Lambretta. This model were used Xisp components and two types of engines: the first with a centrifugal clutch and Minarelli engine. This Minarelli motor was later nationalized in Argentina by Zanella and used in Brazil on numerous bikes. The second type was a Minarelli engine with a vertical cylinder which stayed in production until 1980.
The standard Lambretta models evolved into the beautiful Lambretta Li Cynthia launched with 150cc and 175cc. Then a second Lambretta-based scooter was built called the MS150. The MS150 had very narrow legshields and cut the side covers. This being Brazil, it was nicknamed "mini skirt".
The Pugliese Brumana or its successor Lambretta - Vehicles Brasileiros Ltda., Went bankrupt in 1982. Their counterpart in Argentina, Siambretta closed its doors in the late 60's. Thus closed an important chapter in Lambretta production. The Brazilian factory tried, and succeeded long after Lambretta production had ceased in Italy. They changed with the times, but as with many other manufacturers, the onslaught of the Japanese competition was too much for them. It is not clear what the ultimate production numbers were, but what is clear is that not many of the Brazilian scooters left South America.