Norton India entry announced, will sell its motorcycles through the Kinetic-owned Motoroyale outlets.
Kinetic-owned Motoroyale is on a partnership acquiring spree. It already has a partnership with Italian marque, MV Agusta and has now announced another joint venture with Norton Motorcycle Company. Norton is a British marque based in Donington Park, UK. The British company has been manufacturing motorcycles since 1902 and carries a long history and legacy of racing involvement as well. The partnership or joint venture combines the legacy, experience and expertise of both the brands to gain a significant share in the growing superbike market in India. The company will be using India-based Kinetic’s manufacturing facility in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra for the assembly of its motorcycles.
Norton’s current portfolio consists of the Commando, Dominator and V4 RR. The Commando and Dominator are classic cafe racers while the V4 RR is a supersport. Both the Commando and Dominator are powered by a 961cc parallel-twin, fuel-injected engine that produces 80 PS of power and 90 Nm of torque.
The launch of the Commando series is expected by the end of 2018 for India and ASEAN markets and meanwhile, Norton and Motoroyale will launch a limited edition all British CBU version of its existing models by the first quarter of 2018. The launch of the Commando series (which includes Commando 961 Sport and Commando 961 Cafe Racer) will be followed by the Dominator (which includes Dominator Sport and DomiRacer). The British manufacturer is not relying only on the existing models, instead is also working on developing a new range and engine platforms which will be made available to the partnership in the years to come.
Norton and Kinetic together are aiming at 10-14 percent share of the Indian superbike market. The partnership will also market and appoint distributors in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The joint venture between Norton and Kinetic is in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative, where under the ASEAN agreement signed by the government, there are preferential import tariffs across some of the above countries which the partnership aims to exploit.
Norton India Entry
– Norton motorcycles to be produced in Kinetic’s facility under a joint venture
– Limited edition CBU version of Norton’s models will be launched in India by the first quarter of 2018
– CKD assembly of Norton’s motorcycles will be set up parallelly
– Motoroyale is a multi-brand dealership network
