Norton Motorcycles has announced an agreement to manufacture a new 650 cc engine for Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Zongshen. The engine will be made under a 'Design and Licence' agreement signed with Zongshen that will allow the Chinese manufacturer to produce and use the engines in its motorcycles. The agreement is for a period of 20 years and the new engine will be exclusively for Zongshen and is expected to be built under the 'Zongshen' or 'Cyclone' brands. Norton hasn't announced the value of the deal, but says Zongshen paid Norton "millions of dollars with an ongoing royalty on each engine produced".
"It's a great endorsement of our new 650 cc engine platform and shows the high level of engineering expertise we have here at Norton. Working with Zongshen going forwards will enable them to deliver high quality low emission engines compliant to current global standards. The commercialisation of our IP is a key area for Norton and we will be investing the substantial revenue received back into our skills, training and engineering capability, thus ensuring long term sustainability to our British made Norton motorcycles here in the UK," said Stuart Garner, Norton CEO.
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Under the 20-year agreement, Norton will make engines for Zongshen
The engine is expected to be a 650 cc parallel-twin and will meet Euro4 regulations but there's still no news about the kind of motorcycles the new engine will be used on. Last year, Zongshen produced around 4 million engines. In a statement, Norton has clarified though that all Norton engines will continue to be hand made at Norton's Donnington Hall factory in the UK.
