FADA sends legal notice to UM Motorcycles

Earlier this month, our sister publication Autocar Professional reported that UM Motorcycles had stopped its operations in India and that its joint venture with Lohia Auto appeared to be strained.  Now, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), the apex automobile dealer body in India, has announced that it has taken up the cause of UM dealers and issued a legal notice to UM Lohia Two Wheelers Pvt. Ltd. and its management. In the legal notice, FADA has asked UM Lohia Two Wheelers to redress all grievances of dealers and to ensure maintenance and servicing of motorcycles already sold in accordance with the warranty terms and law.

In a media release, FADA says “the dealers are aggrieved by the dishonesty and fraud on part of the management and promoters of UM Lohia, including founders Ayush Kumar Lohia and Jose Miguel Villegas. The statement also mentions the how UM dealers are facing “huge losses” and “unwarranted litigation from customers of UM Motorcycles.”

The apex dealer body says UM Lohia stopped production in October 2018, and had over 80 dealers who had invested around Rs 150 crore.

In an earlier interaction, Ayush Lohia, CEO, Lohia Auto Industries, had explained that the 50-50 JV with UM Motorcycles was facing issues as UM Motorcycles currently was not able to invest any money in India and thus the Kashipur plant in Uttarakhand was not manufacturing any motorcycles.

FADA has cautioned that if UM Lohia and its management does not respond to the legal notice, it will have no other option “but to take appropriate legal measures against the company, its management and all others concerned with this matter.”

UM Motorcycle’s last launch in India – way back in September 2017 – was the Renegade Commando, which sported a price tag of Rs 1.89 lakh.