Anyone who has followed the Lambretta trademark ownership battles over the past decades should already realise that the real money is not in scooters.
The power of Lambretta is no longer a 2-stroke engine, but in a recognisable name, brand and logo that can be exploited on any number of unrelated products.
In the past we’ve had Lambretta fragrances, pedal cycles, watches and of course clothes when Englishman Derry Kunman was in control of the brand.
After a series of international court cases the Lambretta name appears to be firmly in the hands of a Dutchman. He is conducting similar licensing deals to produce products that are a long way from the Innocenti origins of Lambretta.
One for the gents
The latest ‘Lambretta’ product, as SLUK originally reported some time back, is a range of electric pedal-assist bicycles which are launching in the German and Dutch markets as Lambretta e-bike.
Lambretta for the ladies…
If you are wondering why anyone would bother, consider that the Dutch e-Bike market expanded by 24% in 2015 to 276,000 units, while Germany also experienced double-digit growth in the same period. During the same time, the entire UK motorcycle/scooter/moped market was only 101,000 vehicles.
Now you see where the money is, and why nobody in control of the Lambretta trademark has been in a rush to build a scooter.
A Lambretta scooter is coming though, most likely through a tie-up with SYM as revealed exclusively by SLUK here. A stand has been booked for the Eicma trade fair in November.
The e-bike promotion is being handled by German company KSR Group who are also involved in the forthcoming Lambretta Vendetta scooter. Apparently the e-bikes are being assembled in Germany as well. Ironically KSR were also the distributor for the previous LN125 scooter in Germany before the current brand holder managed to block their sale using the Lambretta name.
Piaggio have also gone e-bike with their Wi-Bike
The new commercial reality is that even Piaggio, parents of Lambretta’s great rival – Vespa – have invested heavily in building their own e-bikes. The Piaggio Wi-Bike is an expensive but very high-tech solution with much of Piaggio’s own technology.
The Lambretta e-Bikes meanwhile use Bosch power units in a proprietary format.
Polini’s new EP-3 electric bike engine recently won a design award
Even the companies you think are most dedicated to 2-stroke and scooters are involved in this market. Polini recently won the ‘CosmoBike Tech Award’ at a recent trade show for their EP-3 electric motor for e-Bikes.
The times, they are a changing…
Sticky
Anyone who has followed the Lambretta trademark ownership battles over the past decades should already realise that the real money is not in scooters.
The power of Lambretta is no longer a 2-stroke engine, but in a recognisable name, brand and logo that can be exploited on any number of unrelated products.
In the past we’ve had Lambretta fragrances, pedal cycles, watches and of course clothes when Englishman Derry Kunman was in control of the brand.
After a series of international court cases the Lambretta name appears to be firmly in the hands of a Dutchman. He is conducting similar licensing deals to produce products that are a long way from the Innocenti origins of Lambretta.
The latest ‘Lambretta’ product, as SLUK originally reported some time back, is a range of electric pedal-assist bicycles which are launching in the German and Dutch markets as Lambretta e-bike.
If you are wondering why anyone would bother, consider that the Dutch e-Bike market expanded by 24% in 2015 to 276,000 units, while Germany also experienced double-digit growth in the same period. During the same time, the entire UK motorcycle/scooter/moped market was only 101,000 vehicles.
Now you see where the money is, and why nobody in control of the Lambretta trademark has been in a rush to build a scooter.
A Lambretta scooter is coming though, most likely through a tie-up with SYM as revealed exclusively by SLUK here. A stand has been booked for the Eicma trade fair in November.
The e-bike promotion is being handled by German company KSR Group who are also involved in the forthcoming Lambretta Vendetta scooter. Apparently the e-bikes are being assembled in Germany as well. Ironically KSR were also the distributor for the previous LN125 scooter in Germany before the current brand holder managed to block their sale using the Lambretta name.
The new commercial reality is that even Piaggio, parents of Lambretta’s great rival – Vespa – have invested heavily in building their own e-bikes. The Piaggio Wi-Bike is an expensive but very high-tech solution with much of Piaggio’s own technology.
The Lambretta e-Bikes meanwhile use Bosch power units in a proprietary format.
Even the companies you think are most dedicated to 2-stroke and scooters are involved in this market. Polini recently won the ‘CosmoBike Tech Award’ at a recent trade show for their EP-3 electric motor for e-Bikes.
The times, they are a changing…
Sticky
