What's happening at Norton? Sale to TVS, massive investment, new bikes...

Grandad said:
Chatted to a mate the other day and despite him liking the bikes his disinterested grunt and a quip of " don't worry they'll be going bust before anything really interesting happens " says it all for me.

The snapshot of public opinion displayed above ( despite him wanting them to succeed ) tells me there is a greater expectation of failure than there is of success.
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Not sure this forum is the best place to come for a snapshot of public opinion🤣!
 
As announced in the Indian press by a TVS big cheese, they will support Norton for another 8 quarters and then Norton will be sustaining itself off its own profits. No, it's Halloween, not April the 1st!!! Clearly shows the disconnect between TVS Motor and Solihull, just annual running costs are £14m so that's a lot of bikes just to break even let alone make a profit.
 
In 1988, Bloor funded the building of a new factory at a 10-acre (40,000 m2) site in Hinckley, Leicestershire.[7] The first Hinckley Triumphs were produced for the 1991 model year.[8] Between £70 million and £100 million was invested into the company between purchasing the brand and breaking even in 2000.
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That's 9 years from 1st production to breaking even !!!
 
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Madnorton said:
As announced in the Indian press by a TVS big cheese, they will support Norton for another 8 quarters and then Norton will be sustaining itself off its own profits. No, it's Halloween, not April the 1st!!! Clearly shows the disconnect between TVS Motor and Solihull, just annual running costs are £14m so that's a lot of bikes just to break even let alone make a profit.
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This is an interesting hard fact among speculation. As for the current maths, if you have 14 m annual costs, even at a very optimistic 5 thou profit per bike, how many bikes do you need really? 2 800 bikes per year. Compare to what it is today. For 2023, it will be roughly around 50 bikes delivered, or 100 at most? In other words, so little that it doesn´t even make sense to calculate the percentage of loss. Just call it a full loss and carry on.
In two years time, however, they surely have other revenue streams lined up. Could be anything from engineering services for TVS to their own line of new models and everything in between. Given that the market in India for TVS is safeguarded, the funds are there to continue as is, or until TVS management suddenly changes. Definitely, TVS bought itself a fitting crown jewel, that is for sure. Now just please stop tainting it!
 
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Stephen_Spencer said:
www.autocarpro.in

"Will continue to invest in Norton for next 8 quarters, confident of the brand delivering profits" says TVS Motor CEO | Autocar Professional

TVS Motor Company plans to continue investing in Norton - the UK based premium motorcycle brand it acquired in 2020. Tap for more
www.autocarpro.in www.autocarpro.in
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Jesus Christ.
And once again, they have to go back to talking about the factory and the money they spent to building it. WHO CARES!

You provide no product.

Money runs out.
8 quarters is 4 years. Yes? They already blown nearly 4 year or 8 quarters.
 
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NOC magazine this month has an Alan Cathcart interview with CCO Christian Gladwell: planning to launch USA in 2024, and Australia is in process. He says the naked V4 will go ahead as a 200 limited run at £42k inc. VAT, linked in with 125 year Norton anniversary next year.
They have funding via the APC( Advance Propulsion Centre) . ( I also saw in MCN that they are looking at immersion battery tech, where the cells are bathed in a dielectric, rather than cooling pipes going through the cell pack, which allows better heat dissipation, which then allows very fast charge rates etc)
He also says next year will see first EV model: no details at all given.
A lot of generalised talk about quality and building in desirability, referencing other brands as examples.
Also said that after visiting the TVS plant in Hosur, India,: “the standards that they set themselves are so high that frankly we can learn a lot from that, and that’s a really powerful of the symbiosis of the two organisations”
Final sentence was: “We’re making joy machines, that’s what we do...”
 
They can design what they like, build what they like, and give as many interviews as they like. But to make a profit, first they need to build a bike that will appeal to buyers and and second get those customers whom they appeal to part with their cash. To assume that Solihull will be standing on its own two feet in 2 years time suggests that there is no one with business sense in either India or Solihull.
 
Fast Eddie said:
That’s the same interview we talked about a few pages ago by the sound of it.

If the Birmingham division of TVS make joy machines, that must make them the… Joy Division… ?!
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Excellent. Come to think about it, the band, the music and the bikes are not a shabby fit.
The electric line could be called New Order.
 
Madnorton said:
They can design what they like, build what they like, and give as many interviews as they like. But to make a profit, first they need to build a bike that will appeal to buyers and and second get those customers whom they appeal to part with their cash. To assume that Solihull will be standing on its own two feet in 2 years time suggests that there is no one with business sense in either India or Solihull.
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Odd MN, cos that’s what they (TVS) do for a living and they have been massively successful in doing so. Reading into their background they have bought many companies over the years, yet have never closed one - apparently.

I think building bikes that appeal to buyers is a given right. Pretty sure that’s exactly what they are trying to do. We may have to wait for a while to see whether the third largest bike manufacturer and second largest bike exporter in India has any ‘business sense’.
 
I live in a 2bed semi in a not so amazing part of Derby.....so its not my place to cast judgement as to whether or not a multi billion pound company has any business sense. But if they have given Norton 2yrs to sort their shit out and stand on their own two feet, it sounds more like a deadline for the current Norton management to make a good impression on the guy writing out the cheques. If not, then new management to be put in place.
Two years though to turn the appeal of a brand around to suit a new generation of bike owners, sounds a tough order to me. A good 80% of my mates are bikers. None of them ever mention Norton when talking about their next bike....its usually Ducati, KTM, or the big four.
 
Stu Bodycote said:
I live in a 2bed semi in a not so amazing part of Derby.....so its not my place to cast judgement as to whether or not a multi billion pound company has any business sense. But if they have given Norton 2yrs to sort their shit out and stand on their own two feet, it sounds more like a deadline for the current Norton management to make a good impression on the guy writing out the cheques. If not, then new management to be put in place.
Two years though to turn the appeal of a brand around to suit a new generation of bike owners, sounds a tough order to me. A good 80% of my mates are bikers. None of them ever mention Norton when talking about their next bike....its usually Ducati, KTM, or the big four.
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Understand what you’re saying Stu, but would you expect a bunch of bikers, currently, to be talking about Norton over the likes of Ducati/KTM et Al, with their prodigious offerings?

We’re interpreting what TVS has said about the two year point; and we’re probably wrong. ‘We will continue to invest over the next eight quarters in Norton’, before listing some serious further investment! That’s what he means maybe? Serious investment will continue for a futher 2 years? A lot of money.

IMG_9071.jpeg

At the two year stage will TVS turn the taps off? Are Norton to stand on their own two feet after this period - is that what he said? I’m not sure. Do they expect Norton to be making a clear profit? Thats not what he said either. I also get no sense of ‘you’ve got two years to sort your shit out’ - far from it.

In worse news, there’s a pretty big hint that Norton will sell into India to rival RE in the future.

In better news:

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