The Future for Norton?
This one is a bit of speculation, but there’s some legitimacy here, too. Chinese company Zongshen could put out an ADV bike that uses a Norton engine. In 2019, there was a concept of an adventure bike featuring an engine that was made by Zongshen in coordination with Norton Motorcycles. This came after a 20-year deal between Norton and Zongshen was inked for around 4 million engines. Basically, Norton sold the design.
With all that has happened with Norton in recent months—TVS Motors buying the company after it essentially went bankrupt—there was a lot of speculation as to what will happen in the future. This new ADV bike with the Norton-Zongshen engine could be one of the things.
The Zongshen 2021 flagship model will utilize the engine design that was put together with the help of Norton. Recent designs from Zongshen have surfaced, suggesting things will be moving forward with this project, and that could mean a new Norton ADV bike in the future. Motorrad reported on the new design. It’s unclear how the money situation would work out or if the money from this deal would help pay off Norton creditors.
While Zongshen will likely put out the ADV bike, there’s always the chance that TVS Motors could work a deal the opposite way and have a Norton ADV bike with this same engine. This is less likely but it will be interesting to see what happens here. Zongshen looks like it’s moving forward with the design and using the Norton engine, so it’s unclear what Norton will do moving forward.