Your Next Retro Bike Might Just Be British, And No It's Not A Royal Enfield

Norton Motorcycles, a British bike maker which has a rich, rich history in making motorcycles, has been planning to enter India for quite some time now. Owned by TVS, Norton now has new Indian roots to establish and start their journey here. Now, with the recent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom - the tides have finally turned in the manufacturer’s favour to enter India. 

No More Import Taxes?

Currently, any motorcycle coming from countries with which India doesn’t have an FTA has 100% import duties applied to them. But with the new FTA with the UK, the taxes will go down from 100% to 10% over a while. So, as far as motorcycles are concerned, the Norton bikes, which will come to India, could be priced almost the same as they are priced in the UK. Norton currently has three motorcycles in their product portfolio: the Commando 961, the V4CR, and the V4SV. 

New Norton's Incoming

It was also reported that TVS-owned Norton plans to bring 6 new motorcycles by 2027, and we expect the first motorcycle to launch by early next year itself! The new bikes will be made in India, but some production will still go on in the UK. Sudarshan Venu, the MD of TVS Motor Company, said, “Our British brand Norton will launch later this year, and this agreement will help us scale faster and leverage common supply chains.” 

Currently, the retro-styled motorcycle segment is dominated by Royal Enfield in India with annual sales figures of over 8 lakh units in FY 2024-25. TVS surely wants to have a piece of this pie by launching Norton motorcycles in India. We could get to see a glimpse of the upcoming more affordable Norton bikes around October and witness their launch early next year.