Classic British motorbike brand Norton to ride again

Whether being ridden by professional racers, film stars, police officers or the Armed Forces, Norton motorcycles have, for over a century, been seen across the world as a symbol of British engineering excellence.

Five years ago, however, the company juddered to an abrupt halt.

Norton fell into administration after it collapsed under former owner Stuart Garner, who later pleaded guilty to a multimillion-pound pension fraud.

It appeared to be a rather dismal and unbefitting end for a motorcycle brand beloved by millions around the world.

Now TVS Motor, an Indian-based company, which purchased the business after its collapse, has announced it is preparing to relaunch the classic brand and give it a new lease of life both in the UK and across the Atlantic.

“What we are trying to do is benchmark the glory days of Norton, which was many years ago, and take it ahead in a modern way,” said Sudarshan Venu, chairman and managing director of TVS Motor, in an interview with the Financial Times.

“The old Norton, they were just trying to make it work in a garage,” he said, adding:“We are really re-creating [it] as a global brand in the rightful way.”

Founded in 1898 by James Lansdown Norton in Birmingham, the company was originally a manufacturer of “fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade”.

However, just four years later, a Norton motorcycle won the first, notoriously dangerous, Isle of Man TT race. It would not be the last time.

There was only one brief hiatus in the company’s rapid production of race winning bikes.

During the Second World War, the firm withdrew from racing entirely and focused its attention on the war effort.

During the conflict it manufactured almost 100,000 sidevalve motorcycles – almost a quarter of all British military motorcycles – to support Allied troops.

In 1968 the Earls Court motor show saw the introduction of the famous Commando model and more than 500,000 were produced in the next decade.

That same year, while filming Where Eagles Dare, Clint Eastwood purchased a Norton P11 Ranger 750 and was photographed touring through central London.

He had tested the bike at Brands Hatch during the production of the film, despite apparently being forbidden from riding it by the director over safety fears.

After going through a series of owners, the brand was relaunched in 1989 and enjoyed renewed TT success, beating a Yamaha to win in 1992, the first victory for a British bike for almost 30 years.

In its latter years, Norton motorcycles has continued to pique the interest of Hollywood and its most famous stars.

In 2015, the bike featured prominently in the James Bond film Spectre.

Norton bikes also appeared in the 2004 Che Guevara memoir The Motorcycle Diaries, and they have been used by various police forces over the years.

Matrix actor Keanu Reeves has also repeatedly spoken of his love for the brand and in 2016 he admitted he owns at least three Nortons.

TVS says it has invested about £200mn in the marque and built a new facility in Solihull in the West Midlands.

TVS also plans to unveil four new Norton motorcycles and superbikes — stronger models for professional racing — in November.

Announcing the new machines, the company said: “These bikes will be the future of Norton, shaped by innovation and design.

“They will position Norton where it truly belongs – as one of the most iconic and influential motorcycle brands the world has ever seen. Norton is back up to speed. And better than ever.”

TVS is hoping to use the iconic British brand to spearhead its push into the US, despite the trade barriers erected by President Donald Trump.

The company is the flagship business of the TVS Group, a conglomerate set up more than a century ago by Mr Venu’s great-grandfather.

It is among the world’s largest producers of motorcycles, racing bikes and scooters, exporting to more than 90 countries, with operations across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

By 2028, TVS expects to sell about 20,000 Norton motorbikes annually, generating around £150mn in revenue.

Mr Venu said that while Europe and the US would initially be Norton’s largest markets, he expects Indian sales to grow.

“In the last 10 years, the power of India’s middle class has really been unleashed in consumption and many of them will aspire to have these vehicles,” he said.

Mr Venu said Norton’s four-cylinder superbikes would be manufactured in England, while some other models could be assembled at TVS sites in India.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]