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

Fast Eddie said:
TVS Nortons position regarding spares for the 961 has always been complex / fragile / ambiguous, but at least it seems they are now prepared to supply some things at least.

But their position with the V4 was very unambiguous as I recall. They published a huge list of faults, issued a ‘do not ride’ statement, and offered PX deals to take them out of circulation !

It seems to me that TVS Norton have pretty much washed their hands of Donington V4s haven't they?
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It goes further I think FE, with ongoing difficulties with a couple of ex Donington V4 owners still actively canvassing against Norton Birmingham for lack of support with their Donington V4SS’s.

There was a video posted to YouTube just a few weeks ago by a very irate gent. Don’t know the detail so I can’t comment. Another case I think went to court - he actively lobbies against Norton at every opportunity it seems. Again, don’t know the details of their grievances.

The upshot I suppose is that Norton will likely be very reluctant (to put it mildly) to provide parts for a bike with the history you describe - especially in light of the ‘do not ride’ statement.

You would expect them to respond to a spares request with some form of statement though. Courtesy, but also a normal business practice. They may still be working out how to deal with it - can’t imagine they’ve had too many V4 spares requests.
 
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savingclassicmotorcycles said:
Talking about the EV Market segment looks like Royal Enfield just launched the Concept for the Him-E electric motorcycle's arn't my thing at all but it's interesting to see the difference in marketing approach.

23:43 mins in


Lot's of talk about pure riding experience of electric motorcycling.

So that's Triumph and RE coming out with EV concepts of usable electric bikes,

As dad just said (we are both watching it at the moment) Maybe Norton might be watching the dust settle then announce something.) One can hope.

Not a fan of the New RE Himalayan, compared to the old 410 even though mine was problematic an it seems to be alot of people echoing that with added tech on it water cooling etc, I know I've said it before love to see Norton do a higher end Longstroke single as that'd really differentiate the brand from the other offerings an would really play into the heritage well.
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As Live Wire has just found out along with others, the electric big bike sector is a no go. It would be financial disaster to go down that path now. The big electric bike is something for the distant future, not now or least the next 5 years at least. Concept and R&D is one thing but producing profitable electric big bikes is another - the latest sales figures say so.
 
Madnorton said:
As Live Wire has just found out along with others, the electric big bike sector is a no go. It would be financial disaster to go down that path now. The big electric bike is something for the distant future, not now or least the next 5 years at least. Concept and R&D is one thing but producing profitable electric big bikes is another - the latest sales figures say so.
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Which is why it would be very surprising to see a production version of a Norton electric bike (for sale) next year as advertised, amongst other factors. Maybe the introduction of the concept model. Although TVS is already heavily invested in this area.

Not sure that it’s five years+ out either though MN - things are moving pretty quickly in that space. With their luxury approach :rolleyes:, they‘ll be unlikely to be looking at/expecting mass sales volumes.

Few of us greasy old dudes are interested in relinquishing our petrol power - luckilly that’s quite a way down the track. Guess the motorcycle community needs to be involved in some way though, if we are to get the bikes we wanna ride.

They’ve clearly got that message though, no one wants to ride a two wheeled tuk-tuk, or something off the set of ‘Tron’. This has some appeal for example. Don’t wanna own one, but would be interested in giving one a thrash around a track - if only out of wide-eyed curiosity!

IMG_2200.jpg
 
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I’m genuinely interested to know who would be seriously interested in buying a Norton EV. I’ve started a poll on this and invite y’all to partake:

Poll: would you buy a Norton EV ?

Assuming Norton made an electric sports bike that was on a par with the others in terms of performance and range, and assuming it was ‘premium‘ in terms of spec and priced ‘premium’ ie several £k above the others… who on here would be seriously interested in buying one?
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
 
Nothing new here but a decent sound track of the engine - he talks about Nortons focus on quality control; over compensating!! Sorta wortha watch.

Main shortfall of the video is a lack of focus on the blonde female lead rider - inexcusable:oops:!

 
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I saw the video.
Main points for me:

- riding like you have a 20 mph limit in the UK already. Is this because the bike was not broken in, or because they had a chaperone? I will never understand. It´s the Missended Flyer vid all over again. Judging from the clear clutch fluid, it looks like it has a total of the 270 miles it shows on the clock, in which case I can sympathise, but then it shouldn´t be a demo bike. Or is this some kind of Norton Experience slo-mo event where it doesn´t matter? Imagine that this is the way the V4 demo is organised. Either way, this is not a test ride. In this situation, I would rather not do a video.

- graphic of the production target of 700 Commandos for 2023! Did you all miss that or what? I suppose that´s new info from after the factory tour. So you have around 600 Commandos on UK streets by now, have you? Or is there a big hangar of them somewhere on the estate waiting for the international markets to come on line and accept EU4?
 
CR961 said:
- graphic of the production target of 700 Commandos for 2023! Did you all miss that or what? I suppose that´s new info from after the factory tour. So you have around 600 Commandos on UK streets by now, have you? Or is there a big hangar of them somewhere on the estate waiting for the international markets to come on line and accept EU4?
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Exactly, target to build 700 in 2023?
Open ended build target for 2024 - I wonder what that signifies?
A more meaningful stat, why not just tell us how many have they sold in 2023 so far?
Anybody in the UK see any 961s on the road?
 
MichaelB said:
"Single Vehicle Approved" Had to look that up.

Single vehicle approval - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Not sure how that plays out over here in the Colonies...
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If you purchased a new 961 from the factory, and imported it to the US with it not being US DOT certified, you would have to contact a vehicle title company that specializes in getting certification in your particular state. It's not inexpensive, and probably not worth the bother unless you absolutely, positively need to have a new 961.
If the bike is a new 2023 model, it would have to meet DOT exhaust codes, which means, the exhaust system would have to be modified. Not an easy thing on a 961, no?
People, usually wealthy folks, bring in gray market cars to the US all the time, they are not certified in the US, so the owners have to pay to make the changes to have them certified. Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, owners do this, but then they can afford the cost.

If you really need a new 961, bet to wait for Norton to get it US DOT certified.
 
BritTwit said:
Exactly, target to build 700 in 2023?
Open ended build target for 2024 - I wonder what that signifies?
A more meaningful stat, why not just tell us how many have they sold in 2023 so far?
Anybody in the UK see any 961s on the road?
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Difficult to know whether that’s sales or targets for manufacture BT. It would appear that the 200 to be made total (rumour) being discussed a few weeks back was nonsense.

I don’t suppose they have any obligation to provide this information, other than to the government/tax department; most will also surface through registrations eventually of course.

The guys who purchased that we know of had a 4-5 week waiting period from memory, which seemed to indicate that they are building them to order. Makes sense given the multiple purchase configurations available.

Maybe they’ve just sold more than we think. There was a lot of money sat in the deposits for sales in the financial report and Joe also said they were pretty busy building bikes. Lets hope so!

What's happening at Norton? Sale to TVS, massive investment, new bikes...
 
BritTwit said:
Exactly, target to build 700 in 2023?
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Target to build in 2023 apparently BT - not an indication of numbers sold. That’s still unclear.

A bit confusing all the same, as it seems clear that they are building to order. Does that mean they’ve taken 700 orders? Who knows.

What's happening at Norton? Sale to TVS, massive investment, new bikes...
 
And how do you sell a new bike at a premium price when this is going on right now

2013 Norton Commando 961 SF – Iconic Motorbike Auctions

Tucson, Arizona - a first-year example of Norton's "Sport Factory" Commando 961 - the SFs were top-of-the-line and came with USD Ohlins forks, radial Brembo brake calipers, conventional handlebars, several carbon fiber accessories, and black chrome headers and exhausts.
iconicmotorbikeauctions.com iconicmotorbikeauctions.com
 
City Garage said:
So Ill ask the question. Where are these bikes? And who is buying them?
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Not sure how any of us would know that CG, at this stage. Registrations will be the best indicator in the future of course.

If there were an influx of new 961’s to the UK roads (given the numbers we are talking about) would anybody notice? Would many be riding them in the middle of the UK winter? Who knows.

I’m not sure an older model 961 at auction, in very average condition in the US is much of an indicator for new bike sales in the UK. A more accurate marker would be second hand prices in the UK.

These two are the only ones currently on ‘bike sales’ in Aus - they are no more of an indicator of what’s happening in the UK - from a country where you can’t buy a new 961.

I’ve no doubt that Norton wish they were selling more though - goes without saying.

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Stephen_Spencer said:
Not sure how any of us would know that CG, at this stage. Registrations will be the best indicator in the future of course.

If there were an influx of new 961’s to the UK roads (given the numbers we are talking about) would anybody notice? Would many be riding them in the middle of the UK winter? Who knows.

I’m not sure an older model 961 at auction, in very average condition in the US is much of an indicator for new bike sales in the UK. A more accurate marker would be second hand prices in the UK.
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Resales are more important than anything. People don't want to buy something to know a year later it loses half its value. The last look ar the registration data says not many sales. Also as far as I am aware not one dealer is "stocking" new anything.
 
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