Motoroyale adds Norton to its kitty

Grabbing headlines at 2017 EICMA, Kinetic motors will be facilitating Norton in spreading its wings in this part of the world. The joint venture agreed between the two sees Kinetic holding out to be the majority party in the deal as a 51-49 partnership has been worked out.

The venture will be based out of Pune and will help Norton target India and ASEAN markets as the bikes will be assembled at the Kinetic plant in Ahmednagar, alongside MV Agusta and the upcoming SWM bikes. Norton will be providing the intellectual support by designing and engineering current as well as future models.

To start with, Norton will be selling limited edition CBU versions of their pre-existing models by the first-quarter of 2018 in India. That means they will be getting the Commando initially and follow it up with the Dominator, both bikes arriving with their particular variants such as the Commando 961 Sport, Commando 961 Café Racer, Dominator Sport and DomiRacer. By end of 2018, the Commando series will be ready to be rolled out of the Indian plant. Norton is also working on a new range and engine platforms, a 650cc twin cylinder to start with, for future growth.