The CB750 showed the world what could be made and sold competitively. It didn't "kill" the Commando. Management ineptitude, combined with outdated and decrepit manufacturing capabilities is what really killed the Commando.
When the manufacturing equipment was moved from Bracebridge Street to Plumstead, many of the Birmingham employees retired or quit, rather than move to east London. One of the machines was a four-post drilling device that drilled and tapped the holes in the crankcase for the cylinder hold-down studs. Initial units off the Plumstead line were badly out of tolerance, so they went to talk to the retiree that had operated the machine at Bracebridge. He asked "Did they take my lump of wood?" Perplexed, they asked him what he meant. He explained that the pillar bearings that the four drill-heads moved on in the vertical plane were so badly worn that he used a length of 2 x 4 to push the drill-heads over to the side to get a consistent location.
That was typical of the worn-out equipment they had to work with. I would guess that "Pa" Norton had bought most of it. Honda had good quality NC machines that produced accurate parts that resulted in oil-tight, long-life assemblies and allowed a much smaller work-force than N-V.
