[anjan_c2007]

Scooters India Limited (SIL), based in Lucknow, UP, was once a major player in our two wheeler segment since 1975, till the late 1980's with it's initial offering of the Vijai Deluxe and later in the early 1980's, the rebranded Vijai Super (was it influenced by the brand name of the Bajaj Super?). SIL after 1995 only known for it's Vikram range of three wheelers. They had introduced the Cento (in Italian meaning one hundred), a lighter 100 cc scooter around 1982. It was a non starter though now can only be of academic importance since SIL used the brand name "Lambretta" for the first time ever for the domestic market. The Vijai Super production was stopped come 1995 due to lack of demand. Post 1995, the already dieselised Vikram single handedly sustained SIL with its dirty Greaves Lombardini engine.

Originally launched in 1975, the Vijai Deluxe was a replica of the Lambretta GP 150 and had a long waiting list. Two years after the Vijai Deluxe's launch i.e. by 1977 the API made Lambretta (since 1978 the Lamby) became readily available with the waiting list disappearing. The Vijai Deluxe had waiting list till the late 1970's and thereafter became readily available. The Bajaj Super still had a waiting list. The Chetak till the late 1980's (1989 if I am correct) was available only upon remitting the foreign exchange equivalent of around US $ 600. It had waiting list of a few months even with such a remittance.

Hence, the Vijai made the hitherto difficult to access scooters easier to buy for the middle class. Another point of debate is that upon buying jigs, dies and toolings from Innocenti, Italy, for the two and three wheeler models (150cc GP 150 and the original Lambro three wheeler with it's 198 cc petrol engine), SIL had also bought the rights to use the brand name "Lambretta" and "Lambro" for the 2 and 3 wheeler respectively. But very sadly, usage of foreign brand names were a no-no in the corridors of power then. We very well remember the Bedford trucks being renamed as Hindustan, Tata Mercedes Benz as Tata, Dodge and Fargo as Premier and Leyland as Ashok Leyland ending their foreign collaborations. Vespa became Bajaj, Jeep became Mahindra, Fiat became Premier and there are more examples.

In this backdrop, Lambretta from day one became Vijai and Lambro became Vikram despite the fact that we had purchased the rights to use the foreign brand names from Italy. Only exports that were very few by SIL were branded with the Italian brand names.

To reduce waiting lists and to make scooters easily available, SIL collaborated with state government PSU's in many states like Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and so on to manufacture scooters with their own brand names. We thus had Aravalli, Digvijay, Vijai Falcon, Vijai Kesri and Allwyn Pushpak respectively from the above states.

After the success story of the 1970's and 1980's the Vijai's glory began to fade as there was almost no innovation. The new Indo-Jap bikes were taking the market by storm. Scooterists were becoming bikers. Bajaj withstood the challenge posed by the times as it's two wheelers were considered very easy to maintain, frugal on the purse and dependable. Bajaj kept a strict check on quality control though innovation was almost nil.

SIL's winding up due to lack of buyers for the company is very sad saga of a once flourishing scooter and three wheeler maker. They are however keeping the option open to trade in the Lambretta and Lambro brands to prospective buyers, though a company in Europe is already using the Lambretta brand name to market it's two wheelers.







The latest news link on SIL :

https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto...229636131.html

[NH08]

These Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) played a significant role at some point of time. But over the period, they have become synonymous with inefficiency and were out of sync with brutal competition.

These white elephants deserve a closure as early as possible.

The 'future' has come:

[GTO]

^ Agreed. Scooters India outlived its purpose a long time ago, and I'm genuinely surprised that it took so long for the curtains to come down. Linking to an earlier thread which has a good discussion (Government considering sale of Scooters India Limited?), for those interested in the topic.