Govt. Bailout, Norton Style

This will make poor Joe's head esplode <sic>.

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/news/?p=1420

Norton Motorcycles (UK) Ltd received a Government backed trade loan to support the doubling of production of their hand-made bespoke motorcycles. Business Secretary Vince Cable visited us here at Donington Park yesterday to make the official announcement.

The loan has been granted under the Exports Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, one of four trade finance schemes promised as part of the Trade White Paper. High Street lender Santander has lent £625,000 to Norton under the scheme. It is the first loan of its kind and the funding will support the company to double staff numbers to around 60 by 2012 and also benefit their supply chain, the majority of which are British based.

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You have to admit those are some sexy bikes that Kenny made.

Good, it would have been a shame to see what is clearly a viable model fade away due to short term financial problems. Rather modest little loan though, isn't it, cetainly won't pay even tea money for those 60 employees. Bit of a worry they are quoting hirings though, rather than bikes output ?

BTW, there goes Joe's idea of collecting up the ruins and starting up bike manufacture ?!!

Not much of the original Commando design there, is there....?

Rohan said:

Not much of the original Commando design there, is there....?

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Although a very nice looking bike, it is kinda too bad that that they dont look more like the originals. I think a primary case similar to the original would be a nice tie to the old bikes. Maybe Lucas electronics too. :mrgreen:

Had to laugh clicked on the link broken link removed to watch the news story and theres a shot of my bike having been in the factory being serviced and having its shorty pipes fitted.
All returned to me today as promised and better than ever.

Those of us outside the UK cannot watch the video.

bwolfie said:

Those of us outside the UK cannot watch the video.

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Those of us inside probably won't watch it either; you can have too much bullsh1t, you know.
When a government Minister visits an area where his policy has made 1400 workers redundant to announce a piffling £625k bank loan to an insignificant manufacturer of niche motorcycles, then that's confirmation that things are getting desperate.

marston rhode said:

bwolfie said:

Those of us outside the UK cannot watch the video.

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Those of us inside probably won't watch it either; you can have too much bullsh1t, you know.
When a government Minister visits an area where his policy has made 1400 workers redundant to announce a piffling £625k bank loan to an insignificant manufacturer of niche motorcycles, then that's confirmation that things are getting desperate.

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I agree the writing is on the wall when hand outs are made,,,if the norton team where doing good,they wouldnt need hand outs...12 months will see them bust, The bikes are to expensive for the performance,and looking bugger all like a Commando ...John Bloor caters for all riders and his Bonnie's are affordable. Nortons badge aint going to save them,they need to get the price down and get some bikes made a.s.a.p :!:

swooshdave said:

You have to admit those are some sexy bikes that Kenny made.

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Does anyone know how Kenny made out after all the expense of designing the bike and getting the trademark?

rpatton said:

swooshdave said:

You have to admit those are some sexy bikes that Kenny made.

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Does anyone know how Kenny made out after all the expense of designing the bike and getting the trademark?

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If we asked the question you'll need to wait for the movie to come out. :mrgreen:

It doesn't sound good that's for sure.
What was that car in Ireland.. DMC ? 60,000,000 pounds bail out by the British gov... according to FOX Television.
snakehips, are you happy with your bike. Lets hope it's not a rareity.
AC.

Problem with us brits ,that big red sun in the east blinds us,and as been doing so for the last 40 years,
Jump off a £10,000 GXR1000RR onto a £16,000 Norton, Disapointment awaits, there is not enough punters to support them, Plus our economy is now in its second stage of stagnation. UK people are getting a bit nervy..The factory will close or move production into that big Red Sun :!: Prove me wrong...and all 3600 forum members [real market reserch]tell me who would spend £16 k on a bike...with £5 k performance...forget the two pound transfer on the tank...if it said Honda...we would laugh our socks off :!:

Swooshdave, my head does not explode. With the amount of debt with current suppliers that was quoted to me by normally well-informed sources, those 625k will not even suffice to make the suppliers stop their legal proceedings, let alone supply again. And the money is not in the bank yet.

As for

BTW, there goes Joe's idea of collecting up the ruins and starting up bike manufacture ?!!

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One thing my short stint as Norton manufacturer taught me was it does not pay unless you make really big numbers, and an exercise on the scale of even MV Agusta, let alone the "Norton" revival, is financially doomed. I can but say I am relieved I don't own the trademark any more, knowing how much it costs to defend it and how little it brings in revenue (unless, of course, one is an established manufacturer wit "cult" status and a worldwide, very large group of fans, Harley style), and I am extremely happy I got no responsability towards customers to supply them with complete motorcycles any more.

The only ruins I am interested in these days is parts, tools, drawings, documents.

Double there production . How long will it take to fufill current orders .

Govt withdrew 500.000 pound loan to NVT , 75 .
gave Meridan two lots of 7.000.000 of which they never got a cent back.

Sounds like they should stop farting around the countryside and put the dam things togetther.

or if theres another 30 workers at the pub ,m the could have a bigger party ?? :shock:

The new nortons have one real ugly,engine. Chassis looks modern, with some real nice stuff bolted onto it, But that engine from the primary side looks dog ugly,Big bulbus casings lawn mower rocker box's, the old commando looks much nicer...I wonder if Lord Hesketh,and bubbles had some say about the way forward with the new Norton. Vince Cable should have relaxed the 20% vat.[£3000!].instead of LOANS! But thats our toss pot goverment, they adopt Borrowing//instead of cost cutting...Thats why we are up to our necks in overseas debt. I know to the readers i sound Negitive...thats because i bought shares in the old revived norton and hesketh, being a Supportive British biker...and guess where my money went?...

Norton! scrap that ugly push rod ,two valve lump and get a proper engine...perhaps Laverda have a few old Jota engines kicking about :?:

And they ship all the snivleing gits out to N.Z. god help us . though its past that, unfortunately .

Matt Spencer said:

And they ship all the snivleing gits out to N.Z. god help us . though its past that, unfortunately .

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I bet every bike as a pair of Rosy specks thrown in.... "O" and a tee shirt.

john robert bould said:

I bet every bike as a pair of Rosy specks thrown in.... "O" and a tee shirt.

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Dont know about rosy specks but I see some of their 'T' shirts are on special offer, you can buy 2 for only £50 !, quite a bargain when you consider their wrist watch is just under £4k. Guess thats where the £16k price tag for an SE comes from, they seem to live in an alternative universe, or is it me?
Seriously though, I would love to see the Norton name back on the streets to stay, so come on guys, lets have a realistic motorcycle at a realistic price that we can all be proud of & that will stand a chance in the mass market.
Regards, Tim

I've seen the new Nortons a few times in the flesh and its a great looking bike. Well out of my price league tho! and I love the old stuff too much. However there has always been a market for these niche bikes even if they only have the performance of a 5k mass produced jap bike - remember how much the Italian/German and even American stuff cost us Brits in the 70s and new old style commandos cost 10k + with 3k performance! The problem is timing really - launching a new bike just before the economic downturn when all the spare cash has just about disappeared is not good marketing sense (ask Jaguar about the xk220).
I hope the co. is'nt doomed but their reputation is getting so tarnished by the false promises etc that public faith might never return. Of cousre if it did go under the prices of these future classics would rocket with the rarity value and I would never be able to get my hands on an affordable secondhand one to "do up".
So good luck to Norton, all their employees and customers and I hope that in the end everyone is happy with their business,jobs or purchases and the great name of Norton is not sullied by yet another calamitous collapse.

mattthomas4444 said:

Rohan said:

Not much of the original Commando design there, is there....?

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Although a very nice looking bike, it is kinda too bad that that they dont look more like the originals. I think a primary case similar to the original would be a nice tie to the old bikes. Maybe Lucas electronics too.

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More than enough of the original "feel" to re-into the bike at as a "modern" Commando.

Certainly more throwback in the engine department than the new Bonneville...

You can't modernise an engine within the old confines, especially when adding counter-balancing. Wet clutches have different needs than dry ones, so why use a longer-than-needed enclosure? Otherwise, not too awfully different.

AussieCombat said:

snakehips, are you happy with your bike. Lets hope it's not a rareity.
AC.

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Yes I am and except for a few issues during the purchasing phase I am also very happy with the company.
I think their big downfall will be they are too cheap It cost less for its first service then my EFI bonny did and that included collecting and returning with a 200 mile round trip, and when you look at the parts on them Ohlins suspension, brembo brakes, Omex ecu, Jenvey throttle bodies ,hand built etc all for £12,500 and 20% of that goes to the government I can't see how they can make a profit.
The real sad thing is though is the people who seem to revel in any possibility of failure. In this thread alone there are traders who openly whore their products through this forum who seem to have nothing better to do than to throw their half stories in about what a mess there in and how they have got it all wrong and how crap the bikes are, I am sure they wouldn't like it done to them and do wonder what Stuart Garner has done to them to warrant it.
It will be sad if it goes wrong for them, people bleat on about how the Norton name again will be sullied, by what ? a guy that is building and delivering a fantastic looking motorcycle, by a team of dedicated people at a British plant utilising as many British sourced parts as possible ? perhaps everyone will be happier if someone sticks a Norton sticker on a cheap chinese turd and flogs that? Oh and the performance is ok for £12,500 we don't all need 160+ HP to have fun on a motorcycle after all this is a Norton Commando forum and we all enjoy riding our 50HP machines don't we?
Still all the above is crap isn't it lets face it Stuart Garner is just a crook trying to rob everyone of their deposits :mrgreen: