Norton Motorcycles has gone through seemingly countless adversities in its 126-year history, including surviving two world wars as well as scores of run-ins with financial disasters. In fact, it was Norton’s most recent failure under the previous ownership that led to its best chance yet at long term success in recent times. Now, four years after TVS purchased the brand, we have our first clear insight into how the Indian two-wheeler giant plans to return this storied British brand to greatness.
The journey so far
Since TVS completed its purchase of Norton in 2020, plenty of work has been happening in the background. Through the challenges of the pandemic, the company’s 961 and V4 families of motorcycles were re-engineered to fix some critical flaws and a new 73,000 sq ft facility was set up in Solihull UK. Norton also worked towards addressing existing customer issues with faulty or undelivered motorcycles. Clearly, things have been moving at a fast pace at Norton, but precious little was known so far about what to expect from Norton’s journey into the future. An exclusive interview with TVS Motor Company MD Sudarshan Venu now reveals plenty of details.
The product plan
To begin, the TVS Motor MD confirms that Norton has big plans going forward and these include the launch of six brand new motorcycles over the next three years. The first of these will launch in 2025 and each of these bikes will be created with a focus on dynamism, design and detail. Venu states that these are the three pillars that will form the character of all Norton motorcycles going forward.
At the moment, Norton’s product prices range from 17,000 to 44,000 GBP. Sales numbers thus far have also been in the low hundreds per year as the company has been working towards resurrecting the business. It is quite obvious that the current products and sales numbers are not indicative of TVS’ aspirations for Norton.
One thing Venu is clear about is that the new bikes will preserve the brand’s high-end image. “Norton will be a world class premium brand. It will retain its super premium and luxury character, but I think the new products will really live the brand and obviously with six new models, the scale will change dramatically from what we have seen in the past.”
Indian Market
With the new products, Norton aspires to be a global brand with a presence in Europe, USA and emerging markets, with India as a key part of the company’s plans. “If you look at India, it’s the world’s largest two-wheeler market. Also increasingly, customers are willing to spend more. As India gets more affluent, people have more aspirations and therefore I think certainly Indian consumers are upgrading, they’re buying more premium vehicles and that’s definitely an opportunity. All six products will also be sold in India,” he added.
Moreover, Norton will start manufacturing in India next year. The operation at Solihull will continue, but manufacturing will also commence in Hosur by the end of next year. “I believe high-quality manufacturing is what TVS really brings. It is the strength of TVS. Therefore, we will definitely use that fully to leverage Norton. But at the same time, they (the bikes) will be uniquely Norton, which is why we’re having European design, European marketing, European engineering as well. And so we will bring this combination together to create products which are uniquely Norton.”
From a long-term perspective, the MD shares that Norton will even consider electrification, but is clear that combustion engines are the current focus. “As you know, electrification is front and centre for TVS and therefore at the right time, we will do an electric Norton. We have to focus first on ICE vehicles because that’s what consumers in those segments want — and also because of the weight and batteries and the range that’s needed for longer distance riding. But certainly, at the right time, we will do an electric that is uniquely Norton. In fact we are already doing a research project funded by the British Government for a Norton Superbike which is electric and can complete one lap on the Isle of Man.”
The investment
When TVS bought Norton, the purchase price of 16 million GBP seemed like a steal. However, the company has already pumped over 100 million into the business and has pledged to take that number up to 200 million in the future. At the same time, Norton’s financial reports declared big losses in the recent past, as high as 37.8 million GBP in the previous financial year and 29.6 million in the year before that. However Venu says that this was not unexpected and points out that these are not operational losses as the company has hardly sold a few hundred motorcycles. “What it really is is an investment in engineering, investment in capability and most importantly investment in new products.
The people
Norton currently has around 300 employees but faithfully resurrecting such a revered brand also requires strong leadership as well as the right kind of expertise. The company already has a solid senior leadership team in place headed by Dr Robert Hentschel who has been Executive Director and CEO since 2021. Brian Gillen serves as CTO and he arrived at Norton after a career as R&D Director at MV Agusta. Another recent senior appointment, Richard Arnold is now Executive Director at Norton following his role as CEO of the Manchester United Football Club.
Senior leadership from TVS is also actively involved in the Norton operation, including RM Chokkalingam who is Chief Operations Officer at Norton. He was previously the operations manager for premium products at TVS Motor and was the driving force behind BMW production at the TVS factory in Hosur, India. Then there’s Meghashyam Dighole – Senior Vice President of New Product and Engineering. Dighole has played a key role behind some of TVS’ most popular products over the years and he is now leading the delivery of new products and the integration between Norton and TVS. This is alongside his roles at TVS.
Norton’s Board of Directors has also been bolstered with the appointment of Hendrik Von Kuenheim, who was former General Director of BMW Motorrad. Meanwhile, Prof Gerry McGovern OBE and current Chief Creative Officer for Jaguar Land Rover is advising the company on design.
The Future
After a relatively long and quiet period, TVS-owned Norton Motorcycles is finally gearing up for the reveal of its true modern re-incarnation. TVS clearly sees the potential here and has invested heavily into giving the brand the best possible shot at the resurrection it has always deserved.
For now, it appears that Norton will remain a premium player competing with premium European manufacturers such as Triumph and Ducati. However, once the company scales up over time, it’s safe to assume that the huge market occupied by the likes of Royal Enfield will be impossible to ignore. While that may well be further down the road, 2025 will be a big year in Norton’s hallowed history.
This feature was first published in Autocar Professional’s August 1, 2024 issue.