Indian-made Vespa Smallframes

Two companies in India produced Vespa smallframe models.

AP Scooters

AP Scooters (Andhra Pradesh Scooters Ltd) were first to make one and sold two models under licence, both 100cc.

The first was the Vespa PL170. The name means Payload 170 and refers to the carrying weight - 170 KG - rather than the engine capacity. It was advertised as "sturdy enough to carry the whole family"! Vespa PL170 4 Vespa PL170 1 Vespa PL170 2 Vespa PL170 3

The engine size belied the power. Despite being only 100ccs it had 5.8bhp, electronic ignition, 12 volt lighting, and was garnished with ET3-style stickers on the sides. It had a 50 Special-style headset and body with the separate horn cast, and rather ugly rectangular direction indicators. Later on in production the indicators became integrated into the legshields at the rear, with PK style ones in the legshield.

The second AP model, the Vespa PVX had a Primavera bodyshell with PK headset, horncast, legshield glovebox, and continued the legshield and sidepanel indicators. Both these models apparently continued into the mid 1990s. Vespa PVX 1 Vespa PVX 2 Vespa PVX 3

LML

The second company was LML (Lohia Machinery Limited) who had previously built under licence from Vespa, and even exported some Vespas back to Europe. They produced a couple of PK clones (though never bearing the Vespa name) called the Sensation and the Pulse. The Sensation was a licence-built version of the PK XL2, and continued with its version of the engine, complete with single-cable gearchange mechanism and provision for a starter motor.

The Pulse was available in 75cc and 125cc versions. It was apparently a very poor seller and consisted of a Sensation with a truly ugly plastic moulding on the legshield and some very naff graphics.

More recently LML dusted off its Sensation tooling and made a PK-alike fitted with their own brand new 4 stroke twist and go automatic engine. This was called the Star Lite, and had a 9bhp engine. Pink and blue versions appeared at a couple of shows, and in 2016 the model was put on general sale. It's not clear if any were ever sold, and LML went out of business in 2018.