Kinetic Group has tied up with Norton to launch the British brand’s motorcycles in India and select Asian markets. With the first motorcycle expected to be launched here in the first quarter of 2018, Norton’s range will be sold through the MotoRoyale multi-brand outlets.
Norton will commence its operations in India with the launch of the Dominator and the Commando. Both the motorcycles are old-school cafe racers, and are powered by 961cc parallel twin engines. While Kinetic will initially import these bikes through CBU route, it plans to start locally assembling them, depending upon the demand. This will place the motorcycles under a lower slab of import duties, which should help lower the prices. Kinetic aims to localise at least 50 per cent of the components.
It has been two years since Kinetic introduced MV Agusta in the Indian market through MotoRoyale. As of now, the company has four motorcycles in its range, of which two are locally assembled from SKD units imported from Italy.
Given the recent increase in demand for retro motorcycles, we can expect the Norton range to do well in the Indian market. More details about the joint venture with Norton will be revealed after the company makes a formal announcement on 15 November.
