advertisement


Norton Motorcycles Saved...

Cool. I had heard that the engine rights were already sold to China though. Hoping the new owners won't just dump an off the shelf motor in the bikes.

Might get a job application in....although I am not really digging the new owner's current range. He may well say the Norton brand is a good fit, but his bikes look pants to me.

https://www.tvsmotor.com/Our-Products/Vehicles
 
TVS build the cheaper BMW bikes apparently so quality shouldn't be an issue. I can see, as was described in the video, that the Norton name will be used to sell cheaper bikes in India and Asia in general where the small cheap motorcycle is a major mode of transport for many. The top-end Norton models will be built in Castle Donnington.
 
richardg said:
Cool. I had heard that the engine rights were already sold to China though. Hoping the new owners won't just dump an off the shelf motor in the bikes.

Might get a job application in....although I am not really digging the new owner's current range. He may well say the Norton brand is a good fit, but his bikes look pants to me.
Click to expand...
... this is why they've bought Norton, I'd imagine. They've got a decent manufacturing capability (as mentioned, they contract-manufacture for BMW), but no product of their own that can attract a higher price.

As for engines, that's always the problem... bikes aren't under the same kind of emissions restrictions as passenger cars, but the volumes for a performance bike make it really hard to make any kind of engine without a joint-venture or an established market.. but then again, "off the shelf" doesn't always mean "sane"..

 
But still, so far we are only talking about the survival of a name. No mechanical or human connection with what made the name important. I would not buy one just because it has "Norton" on the tank and is painted like a Manx.
 
KrisW said:
... this is why they've bought Norton, I'd imagine. They've got a decent manufacturing capability (as mentioned, they contract-manufacture for BMW), but no product of their own that can attract a higher price.

As for engines, that's always the problem... bikes aren't under the same kind of emissions restrictions as passenger cars, but the volumes for a performance bike make it really hard to make any kind of engine without a joint-venture or an established market.. but then again, "off the shelf" doesn't always mean "sane"..

Click to expand...
Haha that thing is ridiculous!
 
PaulMB said:
But still, so far we are only talking about the survival of a name. No mechanical or human connection with what made the name important. I would not buy one just because it has "Norton" on the tank and is painted like a Manx.
Click to expand...
It could go either way, some Aisan companies have really trashed the brand they bought, others have improved it. I mean, I prefer Jaguar now to 1990s Jaguar. But I would not consider a current Benelli, but one pre-China take-over I might have.

Fingers crossed the new owner will look across at Triumph and take notes.
 
I work for a different bit of the TVS empire (that was a long-established British brand before being taken over). Head office in India are very hands-off and see TVS as a distributed global brand.

If the motorcycle division follows the same ethos, I'd say Norton are in with a decent chance of pulling through.
 
jwb5463 said:
I work for a different bit of the TVS empire (that was a long-established British brand before being taken over). Head office in India are very hands-off and see TVS as a distributed global brand.

If the motorcycle division follows the same ethos, I'd say Norton are in with a decent chance of pulling through.
Click to expand...
Which brand are you working for under TVS?
 
Good news. If they keep the brand alive by selling a million single cylinder 125 and 200cc twin commuters then good luck to them. It worked for Enfield after all. The original 350 Bullet was nothing of the kind but the new ones are desirable modern bikes in the classic mould.
 
Well, maybe. However it's hard to make a business on one or two halo models. Even Porsche needed the Boxster, after all.
 
stevec67 said:
Good news. If they keep the brand alive by selling a million single cylinder 125 and 200cc twin commuters then good luck to them. It worked for Enfield after all. The original 350 Bullet was nothing of the kind but the new ones are desirable modern bikes in the classic mould.
Click to expand...


They could use use the names from their early '60s 250 and 350 twin models - Jubilee and Navigator. They were not a great success though.

 
As I remember it the Commando was introduced into the the MC press as the coming surprise, not mentioning anything at all about what it was. Something about a green badge. Compared to the sensible Japanese stuff it was a hoot. Indeed it was for a time...
 
herb said:
They could use use the names from their early '60s 250 and 350 twin models - Jubilee and Navigator. They were not a great success though.

Click to expand...
They never looked as good as the smaller BSA or Triumph models. OK, you had to avoid the bathtub models. The thing is that a bathtub is practical on a commuter, but it looks awful. Nobody wants to get wet on the way in to work, but equally nobody wants to ride a sad looking bike.
 
PaulMB said:
"Atlas" was a great name. "Commando" and "Combat" a bit belligerent.
Click to expand...
Names are tricky. Numbers make more sense. The thing is that the best names are tr ade marked. That's why people end up with rubbish names. There's a caravan called a Marauder, FFS. What are you going to do with that, rape and pillage your way across Europe? Marauder indeed. I can only imagine that tourer, traveller, voyager, explorer, expedition, leisure, wanderer, etc were all taken.
 
stevec67 said:
They never looked as good as the smaller BSA or Triumph models. OK, you had to avoid the bathtub models. The thing is that a bathtub is practical on a commuter, but it looks awful. Nobody wants to get wet on the way in to work, but equally nobody wants to ride a sad looking bike.
Click to expand...


Agreed, though at least one of them had an electric start. In a strange way they saw the future (Honda) but the technology/marketing was not up to it. I quite like the idea of a Norton Navigator, not a BSA Pixie. The Commando was much better marketed and won MCN top bike awards for several years, quite rightly so.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top