Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1217238
NORTON MOTORCYCLES ENTERS ADMINISTRATION P108 Feature roster of British brands may be appealing—if only to prevent any of its local rivals from obtaining it. These would be headed by Hero Motocorp, which since splitting from Honda in 2011, has maintained its market leadership in its home market—albeit without any branding other than its own. Adding Norton to its roster as a means of rival- ing Royal Enfield's local leadership in the so-called 'Superbike' sector with its 650 twins, might entice Hero boss Pawan Munjal to make a bid for the British company, especially as Hero's efforts to add significantly to its seven million-plus annual In- dian deliveries via overseas sales is still struggling to get airborne, and renaming its products via a prestigious and globally recognized brand such as Norton, could help resolve that. IITHE END FOR GARNER Stuart Garner has worked tirelessly in putting the born-again Norton Motorcycles firm back on the map, with getting on for 5000 motorcycles so far built and delivered to customers around the world under his ownership. However, it's seemingly ap- parent that his time at Norton is now over, espe- cially with potentially serious and even criminal issues that are gradually coming to light surround- ing the company's pension scheme. As Norton's future existence is called into question, more and more of its UK customers are coming forward who have either parted with a deposit on their chosen model or paid for it in full upfront—yet have not received what they paid for, in some cases years after making that payment. Sadly, they're likely to be left severely out of pocket as BDO's management team hauls over the embers of Norton Motorcycles, and tries to establish a means of keeping the company afloat, rather than breaking it up and liquidating its as- sets. Given that Garner and Skinner and the team of Norton engineers have created two excellent model platforms, one of them potentially with large-scale marketplace appeal, the product-led future for Norton Motorcycles after being placed in what is the UK equivalent to U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, still looks healthy. Any bets on who'll buy it? CN Stuart Garner may have started Norton with the best intentions, but that's not how it ended up for the British entrepreneur.