Norton Motorcycles & Kinetic Motoroyale Enter into a Joint Venture
Legendary and iconic British Motorcycle brand Norton is all set to enter the Indian market. India based Kinetic owned Motoroyale Group today signed an agreement for an joint venture with Nortan Motorcycles to launch their brand of motorcycles in India and the ASEAN markets by end of 2018. News of this JV had been coming out right since the recently concluded 2017 EICMA Motorcycle Show.
The Firodia owned Motoroyale will have a major stake of 51% while Norton gets the remaining 49% stake. The first models from this association will be the Commando” and Dominator that would be assembled at the Motoroyale unit in Ahmednagar. The first lot of Norton motorcycles would be CBU units imported from Great Britain and would be launched in three months time.
The Dominator; and its variants, Commando 961 Sport; Commando 961 Café Racer; Dominator Sport and DomiRacer are powered by a 961cc parallel twin engine with 80PS of power and 90Nm of torque. The transmission is taken care by a 5-speed constant mesh unit.
As per the announcement the Motoroyal Norton partnership is looking at 10% market share of the superbike segment in India which works out to 1,200-2,000 unit sales in a year, over the course of the next few years of course. Along with planned exports to the ASEAN markets, the company is also looking at annual sales of 4,000-5,000 units per annum, within 2-3 years of its launch. Motoroyale Norton will market and appoint distributors in the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Norton is also working on developing a new range and engine platforms, which will be made available to the JV in the subsequent years. Initially an investment in the range of USD 10mn including the setup, working capital and marketing expenditure required would be made in a planned manner.
Mr. Ajinkya Firodia, Managing Director said “Motoroyale shall offer the best two wheeler brands across the globe to the Indian market. Having said that, I deem that Norton motorcycles fit the idea exquisitely.Norton has maintained its own charm and legacy, which makes it a standalone brand. ‘Norton Motorcycles’ are like the ‘Aston Martins’ of the motorcycling world. Currently they are extremely fabulous and exclusive. By combining the joint strengths of Norton and Kinetic, we are aiming to deliver the same finesse at an exciting value proposition in order to expand the reach of the motorcycles to true biking enthusiasts. I am in no doubt that these motorcycles will he highly appreciated and welcomed by discerning the motorcyclists”
Mr. Stuart Garner, CEO& Owner, Norton Motorcycles said, “Norton has a unique place in motorcycle history.We have been hand building gorgeous bikes in England for many years. We are now taking the next big step forward and delighted to form this alliance with the Kinetic group.I believe that the style, passion and beauty of Norton products coupled with the experience of Kinetic will make a winning combination and deliver a fabulous range of Norton motorcycles across the ASEAN territories”.
