What The Next New Lambretta Means To American Lambrettisti

By th' Cap'n on May 24, 2011 9:51 PM | 4 Comments
Thumbnail image for The Next New Lambretta

Not much.

Other than a few aesthetic nods to the Innocenti Lambretta Series 3 TV175, it's just another Chinese twist & go powered by a Taiwanese SYM engine. It has been reported that it has an all-metal body, but the photos released so far indicate there is plenty of plastic, so we shall see.

Commenters on various forums have made remarks ranging from "amazing!" and "beautiful!" to "crap" and "ugliest thing I've ever seen!" I think it's unrealistic to compare any modern scooter (other than the Vespa PX150 re-issue and the 2-stroke LML Star/Genuine Stella) to a vintage or classic scooter, no matter what the make and model. Whether it's the engine, the design, the electronics or the suspension, the way scooters are made today has little to do with how they were made 40-50 years ago.

Lambretta TV175 Compared To A New Lambretta LN125

Above: The new Lambretta LN (right) takes obvious design cues from the vintage Innocenti Series 3 Lambretta TV175 (left).

So lets get off all that, shall we? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... We each have our individual preferences... Blah blah blah. We all get it and there isn't any point in arguing over it.

The truth is, unless Lambretta International, LLC, the Seattle company that holds the rights to the Lambretta trademark in the United States and imports such stellar subjects as the Taiwainese-built Uno50, decides it wants to work with Milan-based Motom Group (the company responsible for the next new Lambretta) then we won't be seeing any of these scooters on our fair shores anytime soon, if ever. Sure, a few industrious people might manage to import a couple for personal use but that'll be about it.

Lambretta International, LLC has so far declined to return my calls or comment on the matter. In the meantime, I expect they will continue to import their own mediocre, Taiwanese twist & go scooters and stick their own version of a Lambretta logo on them to offer for sale through the U.S. dealership network they have developed over the past couple of years. That in itself has been a non-event.

So, what does this really mean to America's Lambrettisti? A few things:

  1. Further devaluation of the brand. Lambretta clothing and watches is one thing (and the new Lambretta energy drink?) but the continuing five-year trend of slapping the Lambretta name on various mediocre to crappy scooters demonstrates the world economy's capitalistic drive and nothing more. Forget about respect for the old brand or what the market wants, this is about making money. Re-re-re-releasing a cheap scooter with a familiar name glued onto it is a great way to make a quick buck. And fast, easy money is where it's at.
  2. Renewed interested in vintage/classic Lambrettas. Lammies are more popular in the U.S. now than in the past 30 years. This is largely due to the modern scooter insurgence of the early 2000s, which was driven in part by Vespas reintroduction to the domestic market. Modern internet technologies like online forums and ecommerce have also contributed. Whether this renewed interest is good or bad is up to each of us to decide for ourselves. I see it as a double-edge sword. More riders means a bigger market which hopefully means consistent parts supplies and more parts development. On the other hand, part of what made riding a Lammy cool was the mystique--there weren't 50 of them at every rally.
  3. The potentially quicker demise of the U.S. version of the "new" Lambretta. Anybody paying attention to what is going on in scootering will see this new scooter soon, if they haven't already. It doesn't take much to put the dots together to realize that this whole "new Lambretta" business is pretty much a pile of bunk. Innocenti is gone, the Lambretta brand has been scattered to the winds and any modern scooters with the name glued onto them are disingenuous. But people will like the look of the new Motom-designed scooter and notice the obvious heritage differences between that and the Taiwanese-built scooter imported by Lambretta International, LLC. I expect hopeful U.S. customers will like the Motom scooter over the other and possibly recognize it as more authentic, even if they can't buy it. And with that, the American version of the new Lambretta loses its luster. (I should say that I have friends who own scooter shops here in the States selling U.S. new Lambrettas. I don't wish any of them ill-will and hope they can sell the bejeezus out of them before the brand tanks completely.)

So, if you're a vintage scooter enthusiast, don't bother getting too wound up about this new iteration of yet another new Lambretta. In the end, it doesn't mean much here in the States. Of course, if I were in Italy or the U.K., this would be a completely different article!

logo_thcapn_02.gif

Tags:

  • American,
  • Lambrettisti,
  • New Lambretta,
  • Series 3,
  • TV175
Joe | May 25, 2011 11:04 PM

crap

CrocodileJock | June 6, 2011 6:04 AM

Hmm. Firstly, good article Cap'n.

Secondly, and aimed at (Joe's) the comments rather than the body of the article, I think it's easy, and probably a bit lazy, to yell "crap" at anything new. A caveat to that… the "Lambretta's" that are currently on sale in the US could probably get called that, not from a performance, quality or reliabilty point of view… I've got no data on any of that stuff, and frankly no interest in looking for any. It's a cynical excercise of slapping a Lambretta sticker… NOT EVEN A CHROME BADGE… on a generic looking scooter. Not my cup of tea at all.

The new LN is a different kettle of fish however. It's not going to be to everybody's taste, I agree. I'm not actually sure it's even to MY tastes yet. BUT it at least looks A BIT like a Lambretta. Ok, so it's "another Chinese twist & go" but the difference IS the styling.
It actually acknowledges the heritage of the brand, and I think the designers have done a half decent job of bringing it up to date.

"Amazing!" "Beautiful" No. But not half bad. Will any be knocking around in 50 years time? Probably not. But is it so different from a comparing a Vespa LX (for example) to a classic GS 160? And that's the market that they are after with the LN. People who want a modern scooter, with a bit of heritage. People who by modern Vespas. And if they get a tenth of the market share that Piaggio have, they'll be laughing.

My bona fides… I'm a Lambretta Series 2 owner and rider, a lover of the brand - and I agree with your thoughts on respecting the Lambretta brand Cap'n. I blog about it here: http://lambrettista.posterous.com/

Orin | June 26, 2011 2:40 PM

Cap'n, an excellent, thoughtful analysis.

I would disagree about the devaluation of the brand, however. It speaks volumes abou the power of the Lambretta name that so many projects have been undertaken to revive some kind of Lambretta scooter.

Ultimately, however, such an endeavor is doomed to be a 2-wheeled repeat of the early 2000s Pontiac GTO: the people who knew about the original wanted no part of the new one because it wasn't retro, and the young people it was aimed at are mostly unimpressed by big V8 engines (and most likely couldn't afford the insurance).

When I first started going to scooter rallies almost 10 years ago (!) I was captivated by Lambrettas, too. There are some beautifully-restored examples in my neck of the woods. But I also noticed most of them didn't make it to the end of the rides, and they were constantly being worked on between rides.

I've had lots of conversations with non-scooteristi who really like the way vintage Lambrettas look, so if were looking to bring a new scooter to market, making it look like a vintage Lambretta would be a wise move. It wouldn't have to be called a "Lambretta," either.

My Vespa GTS was my only vehicle for over a year. It needed to start every time, and get me where I needed to be every time. I think it's a nice update of the classic Vespa look, but I'm not married to that idea at all. Yes, some parts of this thing look like they're made of plastic, but so what? The original Lammies were made of steel because plastics as we know them today simply didn't exist in the early 1950s. The GTS has damage on both rear quarters, damage that would cost $150/hour for a body shop to fix. If this new one has plastic panels on the parts likely to contact the ground when it falls over, it shows that its builder intends for it to be used.