TVS appoints new Norton senior management team
Following its acquisition of Norton Motorcycles from bankruptcy in April 2020, Indian conglomerate TVS has finalised senior management appointments for "the next phase of its transformation of the historic British company" following completion of its move to a new 8,000 unit annual capacity facility at Birmingham, England, earlier this year.
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| Chief Executive Officer Robert Hentschel |
Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director of TVS Motor Company (TVS), announced that Norton Motorcycles will be led by Robert Hentschel as Chief Executive Officer and Vittorio Urciuoli in the newly created Chief Technology Officer position.
One of the top five two-wheeler manufacturers in the world, TVS says Norton is "undergoing a comprehensive transformation" and is "being positioned for future growth".
"The new leadership team brings exceptional global automotive leadership and engineering experience, including senior roles at Ricardo, Ferrari and Lotus." After playing a key role in stabilising the company, ex-Harley Europe Managing Director John Russell will end his tenure as Interim CEO at Norton.
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| Chief Technology Officer Vittorio Urciuoli |
Hentschel joins Norton from Valmet Automotive Holding GmbH & Co KG, where he has served as Managing Director since 2017. Before that, he headed Ricardo Deutschland and Hentschel System and was also Director of Lotus Engineering. Vittorio Urciuoli's former key roles within the global automotive industry include Director of URVI Ltd, Head of Powertrain at Lotus Cars and Project Leader at Ferrari and Aprilia Racing.
Sudarshan Venu stated: "TVS has created a plan for Norton to transform into the future. The brand will retain its core values which will be interpreted in a modern way for the customers of today and tomorrow. Both Hentschel and Urciuoli are experienced engineers with pedigree on the world stage. Over the last 12 months, we have ensured that our clear strategy for the transformation of Norton has been delivered with significant improvements to the product and the creation of a world class manufacturing facility in record time."
Norton was originally founded in Birmingham, England, in 1898, by James Lansdowne Norton as a manufacturer of "fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade". A Norton won the Twin Cylinder class at the first ever Isle of Man TT in 1907, and there followed nearly 50 years of growth and track success. The 1960s and since have not been as kind to the Norton brand, but long-suffering customers and fans of the brand have high hopes for stability, a return to growth and some exciting new models under TVS' ownership.
