TVS-Owned Norton Motorcycles Is Coming Back To India; Once Again

Quick Highlights

• Norton Motorcycles is now owned by TVS Motor Company

• It  plans to launch six new bikes over the next three years

• The iconic British brand now plans to re-enter India

TVS-owned Norton Motorcycles has announced plans to launch in India. The announcement was made at the recently concluded Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. Since their takeover, TVS Motor Company has committed more than Rs 2,000 crore to the brand to help them develop new products and manufacturing facilities. 

Norton Motorcycles plans to launch six new bikes over the next three years, and will expand their operations to India, USA, Germany, France, and Italy. The iconic British brand launched some of their motorcycles in India, a few years ago, and sold them as CBU models. However that venture wound up circa 2020. 

Currently, they sell three bikes internationally: Norton Commando 961, Norton V4CR, and the Norton V4SV. The Commando is powered by a 961cc air & oil-cooled parallel-twin engine with pushrod-actuated valves that makes 77PS at 7250rpm and 81Nm at 6300rpm. Some of its highlights include a carbon-fibre front mudguard, a hand-welded frame, billet aluminium clip-on handlebars, Brembo braking system with carbon discs on the front, fully adjustable Ohlins suspension, analogue speedometer and tachometer, and a stainless steel exhaust system. 

The V4CR cafe racer and the V4SV sport bike are powered by a 1200cc V4 engine with titanium inlet valves, and eight fuel injectors (2 per cylinder). It makes 187PS at 12,000rpm and 125Nm at 9000rpm. They have full carbon-fibre body panels and fuel tank. The latter also has Kevlar reinforcement. The chassis is hand-welded and has a mirror finish. They can be either had with carbon-fibre or forged aluminium wheels. These bikes have top-shelf 43mm Ohlins NIX30 fully adjustable inverted fork, and a bespoke, fully-adjustable Ohlins TTXGP monoshock. Their features include a keyless ignition, a 6-inch full colour instrument console, three riding modes: Wet, Road, & Sport, a bi-directional quickshifter with an autoblipper, a six-axis IMU (inertial measurement unit), lean-sensitive traction control, and wheelie control.

In the UK, the Commando 961 is priced at an equivalent of Rs 18.46 lakh, V4CR at Rs 45.61 lakh, and V4SV at Rs 47.78 lakh. Norton Motorcycles had showcased some lower capacity bikes, however the project has been shelved since. It’s evident that the brand has a premium positioning, and is expected to remain the same even when it launches in India. However, no timelines have been quoted yet, and it remains to be seen if the upcoming bikes are more affordable than their existing ones.