CarBrandLogos archive · Lambretta · 2017

LambrettaV-Special

A revived Italian name on an Austrian-built modern scooter with a bolt-on steel body.

Photo: Kenneth Lee · CC BY-SA 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Lambretta history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lambretta V-Special, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Innocenti stopped building Lambrettas in 1971, and the name spent decades passing between owners while licensed and unlicensed copies were produced in India, Spain and elsewhere. The V-Special, launched in 2017, is the badge's return to a purpose-designed machine.

2017 Lambretta V-Special · Kenneth Lee · CC BY-SA 2.0

Design and engineering

It is made by the KSR Group at Gedersdorf in Austria under licence from Lambretta, now held by Innocenti SA in Switzerland. Three engine sizes are offered, nominally 50, 125 and 200cc, driving through a CVT with belt final drive, which is the modern scooter standard rather than the geared twist-grip arrangement of the originals.

In production

The one genuinely distinctive element is the body. The V-Special uses a steel monocoque with bolt-on panels, so a damaged section can be unbolted and replaced rather than beaten out, and the panels can be changed for a different colour. It is a practical idea in a class where most rivals use bonded plastic, and it deliberately echoes the pressed steel construction that defined the marque in the first place.

At a glance