Norton Dominator & Commando CONFIRMED for India by Kinetic Chairman

The Norton Dominator and Commando retro motorcycles will roll into India in the next 3-4 months. Pune-based Kinetic group has entered a joint venture with iconic British motorcycle marque Norton Motorcycles, to build and sell these bikes in India, and to distribute them across South East Asia.

Kinetic Chairman Mr. Arun Firodia said,

I believe that it is the accurate time to introduce these bikes to the motorcyclists in India that will create tremendous hype and excitement in the market.

Norton owner Stuart Garner added,

We are now taking the next big step forward and delighted to form this alliance with the Kinetic group. I believe that the style, passion and beauty of Norton products coupled with the experience of Kinetic will make a winning combination and deliver a fabulous range of Norton motorcycles across the ASEAN territories.

Kinetic will import the Norton Dominator and Commando motorcycles as completely built units (CBU) very soon, and an Auto Expo debut is highly likely. By the end of 2018, these bikes will be assembled in India through the completely knocked down (CKD) route.

Norton Commando

The Commando will be the lowest priced Norton for the Indian market, and is likely to be sold in two variants –  Sport and Cafe Racer. Both variants will use a 961 cc, parallel-twin engine that’s air and oil cooled. The engine will put out 80 Bhp of peak power and 90 Nm of peak torque, and gets hydraulic pushrods to actuate the valves.

Upside down front forks and twin gas-charged rear shock absorbers make for suspension bits on the Cafe Racer while the Sport version will get conventional telescopic forks. The Sport version will get a regular handlebar while the Cafe Racer will use clip-ons.

Twin disc brakes upfront and a single disc brake at the rear will be offered as standard but there’s no ABS, even as an option. A five speed manual gearbox is standard on both bikes. The bikes will rival Triumph’s Street Twin range in India. Pricing is yet to be disclosed.

Norton Dominator

The Dominator is a flagship model that’ll be priced higher than the Commando twins. It’ll share the same engine and gearbox though. It gets sharper styling and plenty of carbon fiber bits that pushes the weight down and increases costs. The bike has a much lighter frame as well.

Kinetic will assemble the Norton range of motorcycles at its Ahmednagar factory, and sell them through its newly established MotoRoyale dealerships. The company already sells the MV Agusta range of motorcycles though these dealerships. Soon, the SWM and Norton brands will also be sold through MotoRoyale outlets. While the dealerships are now limited to the cities of Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and other cities will soon be covered.

Via LiveMint