Norton ownership: dealerships, warranty, finance and roadside support explained
From its growing dealer network and Foster + Partners showrooms to warranty, roadside assistance, finance and the Norton Rider app, here’s what Norton ownership looks like.
A new motorcycle range is only a part of rebuilding a motorcycle brand. The bikes themselves might be the most visible part of Norton’s resurgence, but once a customer has chosen a Manx R or Atlas, there is a whole lot more that needs to happen behind the scenes.
That means dealerships, servicing, parts, warranty support, roadside assistance and increasingly, the digital services that sit around the bike in your garage.
Norton is now building those elements alongside its new generation of bikes, with the aim of making the ownership experience rather more joined-up than simply buying a bike and taking it home.
A different kind of dealership
One of the most obvious changes will be what happens when you walk into a Norton retailer. The company has teamed up with Foster + Partners to create a new global retail concept, designed around the idea that a Norton showroom should be somewhere where you can experience the motorcycles rather than simply look at them.
The concept takes on a more gallery-like approach to displaying the bikes, with dedicated areas for configuring a bike, technical displays and digital features intended to give customers more information about the bikes themselves.
That is particularly relevant to a range such as Norton’s current one. The Manx R is available in four versions, from the £20,250 base model through to the more specialised Apex, Signature and First Edition, while the Atlas offers its own choice of specifications, colours and accessories. Having somewhere to understand those differences is arguably just as important as having the bikes sitting on the showroom floor.
Norton currently has 13 retailers and plans to double that number over the next two years, giving the brand a growing brick and mortar presence for customers who want to see the bikes, discuss the different specifications or arrange a test ride.
The Foster + Partners concept is also designed to work in relatively small spaces, starting at 50 square metres, rather than being limited to enormous flagship sites. Norton says the design has been developed with a seven-year lifespan and will initially be introduced in key markets including the UK, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, India and the USA.
The aim, in simple terms, is to make the showroom part of the Norton experience rather than just the place where the finance is arranged and paperwork signed.
The ownership package
Once the bike is in your garage, the less glamorous parts of ownership become rather more important.
Both the Manx R and Atlas come with a three-year Norton warranty, while Norton Roadside Assist is included for the same period. The roadside package operates 24 hours a day and includes assistance coordination and onward travel support, while a dedicated Norton Client Services team is there to help with service bookings and assistance requests.
Service intervals are different between the two bikes, reflecting their different roles. The Manx R requires servicing every 12 months or 10,000 miles, while the Atlas has a 12-month or 6,000-mile interval.
That is the sort of information that matters considerably more once you've actually bought the bike. A 206bhp V4 superbike and a 585cc adventure bike might sit in very different parts of the market, but both need a manufacturer behind them once the initial excitement of taking delivery has worn off.
There is a Norton app for that
The modern Norton ownership experience also extends beyond the dealership.
The Norton Rider app puts service reminders and ride data in the palm of your hand, while the bikes' connected systems can receive software and firmware updates over the air. Both the Manx R and Atlas also use their large 8-inch TFT displays to provide navigation, multimedia functions and smartphone connectivity.
On the Manx R, the connected functionality also includes live tracking, remote immobilisation and theft alerts, adding another layer to the relationship between the motorcycle, its maker and its new owner.
It is a useful example of how motorcycle ownership is changing. The bike is still very much a physical machine, but some of the support around it no longer needs to involve a trip to the dealership.
Making a Norton more accessible
The other practical consideration when buying a new motorcycle is, of course, how you actually pay for the thing.
Norton currently has finance options across the range, with 36-month examples showing how the monthly cost varies between models and specifications. For the Atlas, Norton quotes £2,399 down followed by £79 per month at 5.9 per cent APR, while the Atlas Apex is £2,549 down and £99 per month at the same APR.
The Manx R naturally sits at a different level. The base model is shown at £3,150 down and £199 per month at 7.9 per cent APR, with the Apex at £3,875 down and £249 per month at 7.9 per cent APR. The Signature moves to £4,550 down and £429 per month at 8.9 per cent APR.
These are examples rather than a suggestion that one version is necessarily the better buy for you. They do, however, give some context to the gap between the £8,250 Atlas and £20,250 Manx R when it comes to the cost of getting into each model.
And while finance can make the numbers work for some buyers, the other important part of the process is getting onto the motorcycle in the first place. Norton’s growing retailer network allows customers to see the bikes in person and arrange a test ride before making that final, big decision.
More than just the motorcycle
The Manx R and Atlas are the obvious parts of Norton’s current resurgence because they are the products customers can actually ride. But building a modern motorcycle company requires considerably more than developing just the bikes.
The dealership environment, customer support, warranty, roadside assistance, servicing and connected technology are all part of the same package. Norton’s partnership with Foster + Partners is one of the more visible examples of that approach, while the planned growth of its retailer network should make that experience available to more customers.
A motorcycle can be judged on its engine, chassis, electronics and styling. A motorcycle maker has to be judged on what happens after the sale, too.
For Norton, that means building an ownership proposition around the Manx R and Atlas that is intended to last considerably longer than the first ride home.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
