Financially troubled Norton Motorcycles UK, under administration for tax irregularities as well as being investigated for claims of misappropriation has been purchased by TVS Motorcycles of India. A press release from TVS states it paid a cash price of 16 million pounds sterling (RM87.41 million) for the British bike maker.
Norton will be a part of a new entity called Project 303 Bidco reports India website carandbike.com. Reports emerging from the UK list K N Radhakrishnan, TVS CEO and President, as one of the directors, along with Sharad Mohan Mishra, who also holds the post of TVS President, Group Strategy at TVS Motor Company.
Information in the public domain in the form of Transfer of Undertakings Regulations (TUPE) for employees currently under Norton names Project 303 Bidco as their employer. Project 303 Bidco appears to have been formed on April 2, 2020 and current filing reports show Radhakrishnan and Mishra to be in charge. .
TVS’ plans for the British boutique motorcycle manufacturer are not currently available but it was stated TVS “is excited about the existing and upcoming products at Norton Motorcycles including Commando, Dominator and V4 RR.” It was recently reported Norton had sold the engine design rights and tooling to its internally developed 961 engine to China manufacturer JinLiang.
The acquisition was undertaken under the guidance of financial advisors, Rothschild and Co, and legal advice for the transaction was provided by Khaitan & Co, and Slaughter and May. In Malaysia, TVS is represented by Daju Motor, with a range of sub-250 cc motorcycles and scooters, including the TVS Apache RTR200.
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Habislah England! Company sold to India, engine sold to China.
A very good & interesting news! Looking forward to TVS bringing Norton to new heights, which is what that this iconic brand certainly deserves! The foundation of a full fledge bike manufacturing is already there ( V4 & Parallel twin engines, chassis tech.).With TVS’ backing & proper corporate management, Norton should be able to further grow in the international market..time will tell.
Hopefully Norton is able to bounce back with the new deal and that they would be able to offer a wider range of bikes even to the 500 and 600 range. This should help them build back some market share. Going niche is really not feasible these days. Perhaps when the worldwide economy is in better shape will luxury goods become more feasible.
Right now, they need to go downstream to fight the other British marque; Triumph. Hopefully too TVS would offer more powerful bikes with more than 1 cylinder with the transfer of technology.
The Bajaj Dominar 400 with its single understressed engine is really underperforming. Indian bike brands need to offer more oomph if they want to penetrate the world markets. The concept of “Hyper riding” just doesn’t work in Malaysia where a 250 can out do a Dominar 400. Hopefully TVS learns from this Bajaj example if it wants a share of the export pie.
That’s why an iconic badge is a very tempting prospect for TVS to expand its global footprint (i.e Norton is even more well-known than Royal Enfield) and they are not only acquiring the badge but also the expertise. The potential is there, under TVS’ custody with proper management & better quality control, Norton can emulate what Triumph has recently achieved on the global scale.
“where a 250 can out do a Dominar 400”
The 250 is more than twice the price of a Dominar.
BTW: Mahindra already bought the brands BSA and Jawa…