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Private company

Automobile Products of India

Logo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

Indian manufacturing company

Automobile Products of India (API) was founded in 1949 at Bombay (now Mumbai), by the British company Rootes Group, and later bought over by M. A. Chidambaram of the MAC Group from Madras (now Chennai). The company manufactured Lambretta scooters, API Three Wheelers under license from Innocenti of Italy and automotive ancillaries, notably clutch and braking systems. API's registered offices were earlier in Mumbai, later shifted to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1949Founded1
  • Industryautomotive industry1

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Automobile Products of India (API) was founded in 1949 at Bombay (now Mumbai), by the British company Rootes Group, and later bought over by M. A. Chidambaram of the MAC Group from Madras (now Chennai). The company manufactured Lambretta scooters, API Three Wheelers under license from Innocenti of Italy and automotive ancillaries, notably clutch and braking systems. API's registered offices were earlier in Mumbai, later shifted to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. The manufacturing facilities were located in Mumbai and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and in Ambattur, Chennai. The company has not been operational since 2002.2

The story

The main plant and old office for Scooters were located in Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, Bhandup, Mumbai. Hind Auto Industries Ltd, manufacturing automobile Tie-Rod ends with German collaboration was amalgamated in 1968 and its products were included to API product portfolios. The Aurangabad unit was engaged in manufactured various Automobile components like Clutch and Braking systems for Maruti Udyog, Hindustan Motors, Bajaj Tempo, and Premier Automobiles Limited as original equipment.

In 1987 as part of expansion plan, the Chennai unit was started in Ambattur for production of Clutch and Braking systems.

From Wikipedia’s article on Automobile Products of India, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • car

Listed on Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1949Founded Founded1

Sources

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