Norton And Kinetic Announce Joint Venture

In a historical announcement today, Norton Motorcycles, one of the oldest and most iconic brands in the motorcycle industry, has formally announced a joint venture with India’s very own Kinetic Group. The agreement for the venture was signed at EICMA just last month and today a formal announcement was made. Norton will be bringing its two iconic motorcycles, the Commando and Dominator, to the Indian market.

The 51:49 percent JV between Norton Motorcycles and Kinetic Group’s Motoroyale will have Norton motorcycles assembled in India and sold here and other ASEAN free trade countries. Under this JV, Norton will provide IP and engineering while Motoroyale will provide the infrastructure to assemble the bikes.

Under the new partnership, Norton will first launch a limited-edition run of its three models by the first quarter of 2018. These bikes will come in CBU trim. The Commando series will be the first CKD model to be launched here. It will come here by late 2018. The Commando series will have the Commando 961 Sport and Commando 961 Cafe Racer. The Dominator will come in later. There will be two variants of the Dominator as well: the Dominator Sport and DomiRacer. 

Norton will be a super niche brand that offers heritage and craftsmanship over everything else. But having said that, the Commando and Dominator are no slouches either. Both come powered by a 961cc parallel twin air-cooled engine producing 80PS of max power and 90Nm of peak torque, which is adequate. Though both motorcycles share the same frame and engine their natures are inherently different. The Commando Sport is a rather large motorcycle with high-set bars and mid-set pegs whereas the Cafe Racer features clip-ons and a small flyscreen. The Dominator, on the other hand,

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looks like a Manx-style racer with low-set bars, rear-set pegs and an aggressive riding position. The suspension setup on the Commando features upside down forks up front and dual shocks at the rear whereas the Dominator goes with a telescopic and monoshock combination. The Dominator also makes use of carbon-fibre in sizeable doses. The front mud guard along with the front cowl, rear tyre hugger and tailpiece are all made from carbon-fibre.

Norton will be utilising Kinetic’s Ahmednagar plant for CKD operations, which will commence by later this year. The British niche motorcycles will not only share the assembly line with the Italian marque MV Agusta but the showroom floor as well. The retro modern Nortons will be sold through Kinetic’s Motoroyale dealerships, which is also home to the MV Agusta motorcycles.

Norton is also working on new bikes and engine platforms which will make their way to India in the future.