Lambretta Motorcycles

Lambretta traces back to 1947, when Ferdinando Innocenti, who ran a steel-tubing factory in Milan, set out to build simple, affordable transport for postwar Italy. He assembled a team led by aeronautical engineer Corradino D'Ascanio, and the first result, the Lambretta Model A, debuted at the Milan Trade Fair in 1947 with a tubular steel frame, pressed-steel body, and 123cc two-stroke engine. The name comes from Lambrate, the Milan district on the river Lambro where Innocenti's factory stood. Lambretta expanded into production facilities in France, Spain, and India, becoming a global success and, in Britain, a defining symbol of the 1960s Mod subculture. Rising competition from Japanese manufacturers and mounting financial pressure through the 1970s brought Innocenti's Italian production to an end in 1972, though the Lambretta name and Indian-built production continued afterward under different ownership.