When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
The Economic Times reminds us that the Kinetic/Italjet deal is certainly not the first collaboration between Italian and Indian corporations. As we all know LML, Bajaj, SIL and others have made Italian scooters in the past, and just as Italy helped fuel India’s original manufacturing boom, a new wave of Italian cooperation is fueling the … Continue reading “India and Italy, true love always”
Since our report last night about the return of the Velocifero, in which we reported that ItaljetUSA.com was going through a domain name transfer, several other long-dormant Italjet sites, all working last night (Italjet.com, Italjet.it, and Australian importer ItalScooter), have also been replaced with domain transfer announcements. Is Italjet gearing up to market the Kinetic-manufactured … Continue reading “What’s going on with Italjet?”
Kinetic Engineering announced today that the Velocifero, the second in its line of license-built Italjet scooters, will debut soon. What comes as a fairly huge surprise is that the Kinetic Velocifero will be “exclusively manufactured for exports to (the) U.S.” ItaljetUSA has been dormant for a few years, and it’s unclear who’s running the show. … Continue reading “Velocifero will return to US”
On my way to work this morning I saw, of all things, an Italjet Velocifero, the first i’d ever seen in the US. It’s hard to believe there are any still out there, there can’t have been too many brought in, I don’t believe they’ve been imported since at least 2000, they’re famously difficult to … Continue reading “’90s flashback: Velociferos still roam the earth”
On the heels of the hybrid Vespa prank comes news regarding a real “green” scooter: Bajaj Auto announced today plans are underway to bring a liquid-propane/compressed-natural-gas-powered scooter to the market next year. Bajaj rival Kinetic plans to release two electric scooter models in 2007 (presumably after they get those Dragster 180s on line). Bajaj might … Continue reading “Bajaj announces LPG/CNG-powered scooters, fights Chinese imitators”
Rupees continue to fall like rain on Italy this month as Piaggio announced their plans for a Rs 1,000-cr turnover in India by 2005, mainly on the heels of their Quadracycle and other cargo vehicles. “Rs 1,000-cr” means “One thousand Crore Rupees,” or “1,000 10-million rupees,” which I think works out to ten billion rupees, … Continue reading “India, the new Italy”
19-year-old newcomer Shamim Khan wins the Gulf Monsoon Scooter Rally and LML suffers defeat at the hands of a, wait for it, Kinetic Marvel.