After a first glimpse at EICMA 2017 in Milan, Italy, Norton Motorcycles and Kinetic Group have made their joint venture official at an event in New Delhi, India, today. The legendary UK-based manufacturer, Norton, is owned by Stuart Garner, who is also the CEO of the recently revived company. In its new JV, it will be seen joining forces with Motoroyale, Kinetic Group’s exotic motorcycle umbrella, to cater to India as well as ASEAN markets.
The JV – a 51:49 split between Motoroyale and Norton Motorcycles, respectively – will constitute sales, service and, eventually, manufacturing operations as well. Norton’s prerogative will be to design and engineer its motorcycles, while continuing to own and share its intellectual property (the Norton brand, design, heritage references and so on). Localisation, homologation and manufacturing support will be Motoroyale’s key contributions to this JV. The Norton-Motoroyale JV is eyeing 10-14 percent of the exotic motorcycle market share and aims to sell up to 2,000 units in India within the next two to three years. Including exports to ASEAN countries, the JV targets 4,000-5,000 unit sales once manufacturing at Kinetic’s Ahmednagar plant commences by the end of 2018.
The JV’s first motorcycle will go on sale in India by March 2018 and will be a limited-edition Commando, which will be a CBU import. By the end of 2018, Norton-Motoroyale will begin local production of the Commando and this will be followed by phased launches of the Commando 961 Sport, Commando 961 Cafe Racer, Dominator Sport and the DomiRacer in the years to follow.
Interestingly, Norton Motorcycles has stated the development of an all-new range of motorcycles and engine platforms, which will be made available to the JV at a later stage. A more Asia-specific 650cc twin-cylinder motorcycle is also under development, which will be launched in Europe by the end of 2018, at the same time as its Indian manufacturing operations commence. This 650cc motorcycle range will be launched in India in the following year and is expected to lay Norton’s foundation as a more mainstream motorcycle manufacturer in a competitive market such as ours.
Also see: Norton Commando 961 Sport image gallery