Maker of the Lambretta-styled scooter, Scomadi Worldwide, has opened a production plant in Thailand, in association with its joint-venture partner, Scomadi Thailand. Named Marin Engineering, the plant is located in Samut Prakan, Thailand, and the company is 80% owned by Pimol Srivikorn and his sister Taya Teepsuwan, with the remaining 20% share held by Scomadi Worldwide.

The opening of a scooter production plant in Thailand transpired after it was found that Scomadi Worldwide’s manufacturing partner, Hanway Motor in Changzhou, China, was producing almost identical scooters to the Scomadi models, and marketing them under the name “Royalloy”. The knock-off scooters were exported to 20 countries, including Thailand, where Scomadi has a strong presence, The Bangkok Post reports.

According to Scomadi Worldwide director Frank Sanderson, a lawsuit is being filed in Thailand against Hanway, and its manufacturing contract has been terminated. The sale of unauthorised Scomadi replicas is blamed for the poor sales of its scooters, with only 8,900 units sold worldwide in 2016.

A separate company, called Scomadi Asia Pacific, has been established, and will be responsible for the distribution of Scomadi scooters in the region. This includes plans to expand into the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan.

In Malaysia, Scomadi is distributed by Motor Legend Enterprise, and there are two models in the range – the Turismo Leggera TL125 standard (RM9,095) and SE (RM9,625). The Scomadi Turismo Leggera TL125 has 9.39 hp at 6,500 rpm and 8.90 Nm of torque t 7,200 rpm available, pushing 100 kg of weight.