LML was once a pioneer in the scooter market in India. An over zealous growth plan gone horribly wrong and employee strikes pulled the company down. The Singhania's were looking for a lifeline for the company while diversifying into to other businesses when Credit Suisse stepped in with fresh capital. This was about 6 years ago. So what has LML been up to? the reply is..... A lot!!
My first motorcycle was an LML Adreno. The semi fairing look stole my heart and it was extremely comfortable to drive. The handling was better than Hero CBZ and Bajaj Pulsar. But the extra weight and smaller engine did the bike in. It's Cousin the 'Energy' fared slightly better but met with a similar fate.
But my tryst with LML has continued in the form of the LML Scooter that my friend owns. The story is same nationwide since LML was the only other scooter maker apart from Bajaj. During the Bajaj monopoly days when their scooters were only available for Forex currencies, LML broke the mould. A bigger, better and stronger scooter. It was again the scooters that saved LML six years ago after being declared sick by BIFR (Board of Industrial and Financial Restructuring) which is an equivalent of Bankruptcy. The company began operations by exporting scooters to Europe, Africa and Middle East as a retro and fun alternative. The bank account saw a jump and the company decided to stick to scooters even when the Kanpur based firm re-entered India.
The company is still in red and bleeding millions but the capital has grown and sales have increased year over year. The old scooter has been smacked with chrome, bigger alloy wheels, electric start and disc brakes. Voila!! you have a successful recipe. Today LML has the only geared scooter in the market with a promising Fuel Efficiency figure enough to pull customers into the showroom. The company is also planning a similar smacking on their mildly successful 'Freedom' motorcycle targeted at the 110cc mass market. A 125cc engine is also rumoured also to power a gearless scooter. The only gearless scooter LML made was the Trendy which again had bombed in the market. The company is seeking to infuse fresh capital either via private equity route or through dilution of equity stake in order to fund development of new products.
Besides,LML has caught the nerve of the customers who use geared scooters. Most scooters are used as robust but fuel efficient goods haulers. Keeping this need in mind LML is launching a 200cc scooter in the coming two months priced at 47000. It will be the same NV 150cc scooter now on sale in India with a bigger engine. This will be an important launch since Honda Activa's and Dio's have not been able to withstand the heavyduty use and the Eterno did not click for Honda. The 200cc four stroke engine mated to a four speed hand shift gearbox generates 11.5 Bhp and 14.5 Nm of torque. LML claims a mileage of 50 KMPL for this scooter but ARAI figures are yet to be released.
The downside of the company's plans is that the dealer penetration has only firmed up in North India around their Kanpur factories. The sales only cover Delhi, UP, Punjab and Haryana. But on the upside, the new scooters have received rave reviews globally for their build quality. The Select 4 features a 150cc four stroke engine producing 8.6 Bhp of peak power at 6200 rpm and 11.3 Nm of peak torque at 4250 rpm. The engine is mated to a cable shift, hand operated 4 speed manual transmission. The kick start version will cost INR 47, 140 while the electric start version will cost INR 50, 948, both prices ex-showroom, New Delhi. A 150cc motorcycle is planned for later part of 2012 rumoured to be based on the mildly successful LML Beamer. Hopefully LML can still tie-up with Daelim looking at the success of Hyosung Garware tie-up.
My first motorcycle was an LML Adreno. The semi fairing look stole my heart and it was extremely comfortable to drive. The handling was better than Hero CBZ and Bajaj Pulsar. But the extra weight and smaller engine did the bike in. It's Cousin the 'Energy' fared slightly better but met with a similar fate.
But my tryst with LML has continued in the form of the LML Scooter that my friend owns. The story is same nationwide since LML was the only other scooter maker apart from Bajaj. During the Bajaj monopoly days when their scooters were only available for Forex currencies, LML broke the mould. A bigger, better and stronger scooter. It was again the scooters that saved LML six years ago after being declared sick by BIFR (Board of Industrial and Financial Restructuring) which is an equivalent of Bankruptcy. The company began operations by exporting scooters to Europe, Africa and Middle East as a retro and fun alternative. The bank account saw a jump and the company decided to stick to scooters even when the Kanpur based firm re-entered India.
The company is still in red and bleeding millions but the capital has grown and sales have increased year over year. The old scooter has been smacked with chrome, bigger alloy wheels, electric start and disc brakes. Voila!! you have a successful recipe. Today LML has the only geared scooter in the market with a promising Fuel Efficiency figure enough to pull customers into the showroom. The company is also planning a similar smacking on their mildly successful 'Freedom' motorcycle targeted at the 110cc mass market. A 125cc engine is also rumoured also to power a gearless scooter. The only gearless scooter LML made was the Trendy which again had bombed in the market. The company is seeking to infuse fresh capital either via private equity route or through dilution of equity stake in order to fund development of new products.
Besides,LML has caught the nerve of the customers who use geared scooters. Most scooters are used as robust but fuel efficient goods haulers. Keeping this need in mind LML is launching a 200cc scooter in the coming two months priced at 47000. It will be the same NV 150cc scooter now on sale in India with a bigger engine. This will be an important launch since Honda Activa's and Dio's have not been able to withstand the heavyduty use and the Eterno did not click for Honda. The 200cc four stroke engine mated to a four speed hand shift gearbox generates 11.5 Bhp and 14.5 Nm of torque. LML claims a mileage of 50 KMPL for this scooter but ARAI figures are yet to be released.
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