Royal Enfield’s dominance in the 350cc segment has been the envy of many OEMs – Soon there could be a new rival from TVS
As of now, Royal Enfield enjoys an unrivalled dominance in 350cc space with unprecedented popularity. Honda, Bajaj, Jawa, and Yezdi brands have tried their luck at rivaling Royal Enfield but results are not very prominent. Now, Royal Enfield will face rivalry from two international legacy brands in the form of Harley-Davidson X440 and Triumph Speed 400.
Speed 400 looks the most promising at the price of Rs. 2.33 lakh (ex-sh) to make a dent in Royal Enfield’s armour. Is Norton the next international legacy brand in the race to rival Royal Enfield? This seems to be possible as TVS-owned Norton Motorcycles has trademarked Combat name in India.
TVS Norton Combat trademarked in India
Norton is a British brand with a rich 125 years of motorcycling legacy to look back upon. TVS Motor Company currently is the parent company to this Solihull, UK-based motorcycle brand. As of now, Norton currently has two powertrains and it sells three motorcycles with these powertrains.
Commando 961 is a cafe-racer-style motorcycle with a 961cc parallel-twin with an old-school push rod configuration and oil-cooling. V4CR and V4SV are much more modern in their construction and both feature a 74-degree 1200cc V4 engine with a DOHC configuration and gets liquid-cooling too.
V4CR is a street fighter and V4SV gets full fairing. If Norton Combat is a Royal Enfield rival from TVS for both Indian and global markets, it will very well feature a single-cylinder engine. SOHC or DOHC layout with 4 valves per cylinder along with liquid-cooling and 6-speed gearbox is likely too. Displacement could be anywhere between 300cc to 500cc.
What to expect?
Design will probably take a lot of inspiration from Commando 961. There could be variations in it to carve out a cruiser and a cafe racer body style as well. Commando 961 is a gorgeous motorcycle that captivates retro styling and radiates an old-school aura.
If TVS is positioning Norton Combat to rival Royal Enfield, these attributes will come in handy. TVS filed the Norton Combat trademark way back in 2020. But it seems to be “Accepted & Advertised” recently as the journal date reads 03/07/2023.
Currently, TVS has Ronin on offer in India which seems to be primarily targeting Hunter 350. Maybe TVS will re-utilise Ronin’s 225.9cc engine that generates 20.1 bhp of power and 19.9 Nm of torque, mated to a 6-speed gearbox. This is possible too.
