Will Indian market entry kick-start Norton Motorcycles global revival?

After a long but necessary process to steady the great ship Norton having skirted very close to collapse last year, it appears things are now ramping up with gusto down at Castle Donington.

This week [Thursday] saw Norton introduce its longer-term choices as CEO and Chief Technical Officer in what is the most significant appointments made at the historic firm since Indian manufacturer TVS Motors stepped in to rescue the company from collapse.

While the company was quick to downplay speculation it would consider moving production from its regal home in Castle Donington in favour of a more cost-friendly switch to India, TVS did confirm plans to re-expand Norton into more of a global firm with a greater distribution reach into key markets such as India, China, South America and the United States.

The first steps in this plan appears to be coming together with documents purporting to show TVS has registered the Norton trademark in India. While this could be a case of TVS doing some organised housekeeping to allow it to launch Norton in India whenever it wants to, it would be logical to expect models as the Commando and Atlas popping up on price lists relatively soon.

Norton to enter Indian market - could this kick-start a global revival?

This news comes at a time when Norton has been basking in the glow of its much brighter - and financially secure - future in a process that began with updating the existing models and will now look towards a range overhaul.

Part of the reason for this was Norton being able to split off from the scandals that it became embroiled in via disgraced ex-CEO Stuart Garner. While those pension fraud scandal cases remain ongoing, TVS’ deal allowed the company to split from being affected by any future verdicts, monetary or otherwise.