The India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) had been in the making for a very long time. This new agreement is set to benefit the automotive manufacturers in both nations in the years to come. The agreement became effective as the heads of the two counties — Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer.
Although there’s no outright benefits for two-wheeler manufacturers mentioned in the initial draft of the agreement, it definitely sets a positive precedent for all OEMs based out of each country and looking to expand their business in the other country. TVS Motor Company is one such OEM who will likely benefit from this new India-UK FTA.
Norton Motorcycles: PM Modi, Starmer take a look
The Indian bikemaker owns Norton Motorcycles based out of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Sudarshan Venu, Managing Director, TVS Motor Company, recently announced that Norton will enter the Indian market later this year. The British brand is likely to bring not one but two flagship products to India— V4CR and V4SV— initially as a fully-imported CBU.
On the sidelines of signing the FTA agreement, Prime Minister Modi and his counterpart Starmer were showcased the upcoming Norton bikes. Both heads of states can be seen taking a close look at the litre-class motorcycles which are slated for a generation upgrade this year. The bikes are currently undergoing final rounds of testing and gearing up for their grand debut at the EICMA in Milan, Italy later in November this year.
Norton Motorcycles in India: What to expect?
According to a previous report, Norton is working on a motorcycle internally code-named B110 which will use a 4-cylinder 1200cc engine. This engine is used by the brand’s V4 range that comprises the supersport V4SV and the cafe racer V4CR. The former is expected to precede the latter in the Indian market. Even Sudarshan Venu was caught on camera taking the test ride on the former.
That said, the Norton V4 CR was displayed at TVS’ pavilion at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo earlier this year. This means the cafe racer is also on cards for an India launch sometime in the near future. Coming to specs, as the name suggests the V4 SV and V4 CR are powered by a 1200cc V4 engine that produces 183 bhp at 12,000rpm and 125 Nm at 9,000rpm.
The bikes come with high-end aluminium chassis with CNC billet-aluminium swingarms and have high-spec Ohlins and Brembo cycle parts. In Europe, the current iteration of these motorcycles are priced upwards of 42,000 Euros (approx. Rs 40.32 lakh) which is way more expensive than flagship Ducatis or Triumphs. However, with TVS at the helm, we wonder if Norton will be able to price these motorcycles so high.
