Yet more Norton good news
The new high-tech factory signals the start of the revival, proper
This can’t be right. Norton are progressing logically. After the chaos of the Garner era, the company’s move into a new factory near Birmingham signals that Phase 3 of Norton’s plan has been achieved. Next up: new models. Interim CEO John Russell told Bike last May that once he and his team had come up with a recovery plan (Phase 1), addressed technical issues with the current bikes (2) and found a new factory (3), then the ‘exciting bit starts – turning Norton into what it can be. Which markets should we go into, and which products should we make’.
A Norton spokesperson told Bike that the new Solihull factory – part of a multi-million pound investment from Norton’s parent company TVS – will be fully kitted out by the end of March. Until then there will be limited production of Commando Classics, which will go to customers who had paid for them under the Garner regime. The backlog currently stands at 40 machines. The spec of the Commandos will remain unchanged, though new production processes are expected to make them considerably more reliable. Once the factory is fully equipped, production of the 200bhp V4RR superbike and Atlas scramblers will begin alongside the Commando, said the spokesman. The new models that Russell and his team are working on are expected to be seen in as little as 18 months.