TVS-owned Norton Motorcycles opens new factory in the UK

TVS Motor co-owned British marquee Norton Motorcycles has inaugurated its new factory in the UK. The site will also serve as Norton Motorcycles’ new headquarters and is a clear display of TVS’ commitment in their partnership. Within 18 months of acquiring the marquee, TVS has overseen the creation of its world-class facility in Solihull, West Midlands, UK, paving the way to design and produce a new generation of motorcycles built with world-leading manufacturing standards.

• Norton’s new UK headquarters uses sustainable and rapid build technologies

• Factory has the capacity to manufacture 8,000 motorcycles each year

• Facility to house design, engineering, sales and other teams

The new global headquarters houses state-of-the-art manufacturing capability and its new global design and R&D hub. Norton had announced its plans to move to the new headquarters in January. The OEM says this forms a key part of its strategic growth plan on its journey to becoming the world leader in luxury handcrafted motorcycles.

Commenting on the shift to Norton’s new HQ, Sudarshan Venu, joint MD, TVS Motor Company, said, “We are creating the foundations for a sustainable long-term future for the Norton marquee. We are setting out to create a bold future for the company, our employees, our customers and our partners that lives up to the highest expectations, enabling Norton to once again become the real global force its legacy deserves.”

Robert Hentschel, CEO, Norton Motorcycles, said, “The facility is home to design, engineering, purchasing, sales, marketing and support departments, as well as the highly-skilled production team overseeing the build of our new generation of motorcycles. It is the perfect platform to re-energise our business as we lead the Norton brand to success where it will play a key role in the future of mobility.”

The new Norton leadership, together with TVS, has conducted a wide-ranging review of Norton Motorcycles operations, resulting in new appointments and processes, specifically in engineering, design and manufacturing to ensure that the highest quality standards are met. The headquarters is creating over a hundred high-skilled jobs (and more in upcoming years) and will be able to build around 8,000 motorcycles a year.

Factory description

Norton says that as part of the new manufacturing process, every single component of every new motorcycle will be evaluated in a new quality-testing laboratory to ensure the highest build quality. Within the laboratory are inspection rooms, testing areas including destruction testing and a rolling road. A customer reception area and showroom, service workshop, and office are also housed at the new headquarters.

The Norton manufacturing facility has been engineered to be highly sustainable and minimise waste. The company says this results in an intelligently engineered solution using flexible components that mean Norton Motorcycles can expand and evolve within the new space. The build used numerous sustainable and rapid build techniques on the project, the components of which are almost 50 percent reconfigurable as a proportion of total construction cost – in order to increase special flexibility.

Norton Motorcycles says the new facility is supported by West Midlands Growth partnership and the UK government.