A new factory and headquarters for reborn British motorcycle company Norton is set to open by the end of March, creating over 50 new jobs at a dedicated facility in Solihull.
Having purchased the ailing brand last year, Indian company TVS has made a multi-million pound investment in the new facility on Solihull’s Solar Park. The premises will be the home to all of Norton’s operations, including design, engineering, purchasing, sales, marketing, and support teams, as well as manufacturing. Some of the specialist tooling and assembly equipment is being carried over from Norton’s previous facility at Donington Hall, however the company says that there has been a significant investment throughout the facility. The new Norton company will use the tooling to initially build a small number of the Commando Classic model, to fulfil orders made by customers who had paid a deposit to the company under its previous ownership, and production of the V4SS superbike is expected to commence within the next two months.
Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director of TVS Motors, commented: “The opening of the new headquarters represents a significant step forward for Norton Motorcycles. The opening of this state-of-the-art facility will create the foundations for a sustainable long-term future of Norton. The new bikes will meet the world class standards our customers expect.
“2020 has been a tough year for the world but we are excited to be moving into our new home and we are delighted this has been created by the Norton and TVS teams in just nine months. This new facility underpinned by strong quality processes will produce bikes truly worthy of the illustrious Norton brand and take it into the future. We are setting out to create a future for the company, our employees, our customers and our partners that lives up to the highest expectations and enable Norton to once again become the real force its history deserves.”
The opening of the new facility is good news for Norton enthusiasts, who have seen the brand experience decades of turmoil. Originally founded in Birmingham in 1898, it was one of the great British motorcycle brands of the industry’s ‘golden era’ but experienced hard times and a painful decline in the 1970s. Several attempted revivals, including the well documented most recent one under the stewardship of Stuart Garner, failed – often through a lack of investment – so the building of a bespoke new premises bodes well for the future, with TVS committing to run Norton as a standalone brand remaining true to its illustrious heritage.
