Investor saves Norton Motorcycles

A single, anonymous investor has sunk £1m ($1.89m) into Norton Motorcycles after it launched a crowd-funding campaign to meet a £30 million order book for V4 and Atlas models.

Despite the investment, owner Stuart garner says he has not ruled out returning to the crowd-funding campaign at a later date.

“We were overwhelmed with interest from our loyal customers and fans during pre-registration, which has given us so much pride and confidence with what we’re doing here,” he said in a statement.

“We simply could not have done this without them.

“We know there has been a lot of excitement in people getting involved with Norton which is why we didn’t take this decision lightly and have decided to pause the campaign.

“We are thrilled that a single investor, who has been a long time rider and fan of Norton, has approached asking to help deliver our order book out to owners meaning we can accelerate the process earlier than expected.

“We will focus on this stage, as we want to get people riding our bikes, and will be keeping all those that registered up to date on how we’re doing and the next steps of Crowdcube.”

Stuart bought the Leicestershire company in 2008 and the Castle Donington factory now employs about 100 people and recently opened a new production line.

Earlier this week, it announced it would also produce the127kW supercharged Superlight SS off the Atlas platform.

Last year Norton received £4m in UK government funding and a £20m deal with Japan to deliver an extra 1000 motorcycles worth £5m to Japanese riders over the next five years.

Norton values its business at £55 million.

Australian importer James Mutton of Brisbane Motorcycles says he has no concerns about the financial viability of the company and is expecting delivery of Atlas and V4 models next year.

Norton Global Sales & Marketing boss Kay Johnson says they are on track with production.

“We are currently making Atlas chassis and other components ready for production/deliveries next month,” he told us last month.

“First customers have been advised and we look forward to deliveries shortly.”

Turbulent year

The short-lived funding plea followed a turbulent year for the 121-year-old British motorcycle manufacturer.

Earlier this year, Norton said there was “no cause for alarm” when a British notice that Norton be struck off the Register of Companies and dissolved after a late-filing notice.

Over recent months customers have complained that the V4 and some other models have not been delivered, despite deposits and even full payment being made.

One customer who paid for a V4 even started up a petition to wind-up the company in the Business and Property Courts in Manchester.

However, Kay says this was a dispute over several months with DHL that was resolved and the action dismissed by “mutual consent”.

“At no point was it ever about a motorcycle, it’s solely over import and export duty on components,” he says.