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Norton ‘ Design & Licence ’ deal with Zongshen
Norton Motorcycle and Chinese manufacturer Zongshen have entered into a 20 year Design and Licence agreement over an all new 650cc twin engine . Jointly engineered and developed by Norton and Ricardo for likely production under the ‘ Zongshen ’ or ‘ Cyclone ’ brands , the Euro 4 compliant engine has been specifically designed to the requirements of Zongshen , enabling the Chongqing , southcentral China based manufacturer to meet current and future emissions regulations . This is clearly an important deal for both businesses . For Zongshen it will enable them to fast track through an expensive and time-consuming development phase and allow them to continue their phenomenal growth . Although the value of the deal is to remain private , the initial consideration paid to Norton is described as being in the “ millions of dollars ” with an ongoing royalty on each engine
Piaggio says it consolidated its European motorcycle and scooter market share position in the first half of 2017 , with an overall market share of 14.8 % ( the same as in the first half of 2016 ), and 26.1 % in the scooter sector ( 26 % in the year-earlier period ). The Group says it maintained a “ particularly strong presence on the North American scooter market , with a share of 19.1 %”, and that it is “ also committed to strengthening its position in the motorcycle market in North America .” Vespa saw worldwide sales grow by + 9.3 % from the first half of 2016 , and strengthened its presence on the EMEA market , with net sales growth of + 16.4 %, and in Asia with net sales growth of + 11.1 %. “ Performance was also positive in high-wheel scooters , where the Group reported revenue growth at global level , largely thanks to the new Liberty and to the Beverly and Aprilia doing well in India , thanks to the Aprilia SR 150 sports scooter .” In motorcycle terms Piaggio saw sales produced . The agreement is for a 20-year term - last year Zongshen produced around 4 million engines . Norton CEO , Stuart Garner , commented : “ It ’ s a great endorsement of our new 650cc engine platform . “ The commercialisation of our
growth for the Aprilia brand , “ generated in particular by the naked models of the Tuono family and the excellent response to the new Supersports model RSV4 1000 , which achieved an increase of more than 20 % in part as a result of the strong return in terms of performance and
image from Aprilia ' s participation in the world MotoGP championship . “ In the second half of the year , Aprilia will also benefit from sales of the new Aprilia Shiver 900 and Dorsoduro 900 , launched on the market in June 2017 ”. Revenue increased at Moto Guzzi , “ driven specifically by the California range and the V7 motorbikes , whose fiftieth anniversary this year has been
IP is a key area for Norton and we will be investing the substantial revenue received back into our skills , training and engineering capability .” Norton will continue to hand make all its own Norton engines in the UK at its Donington Hall factory .
Piaggio “ positive ” first half
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marked with an ad hoc model ”. In overall corporate terms , compared with the first half of 2016 , Piaggio says their Group performance in the first half of 2017 was “ positive , with a strong improvement and a reduction in debt ”. Group consolidated net sales in the first half of 2017 totalled 725.3 million euro , an improvement of + 2.7 % from 706.5 million euro .
The company says it sold 280,700 vehicles in total , of all kinds , worldwide , an increase of + 1.4 % from 276,700 in the year-earlier period . Sales growth in the EMEA and the Americas areas (+ 5.8 %) more than compensated for the decreases reported in India ( -2.2 % due to slower sales of commercial vehicles ). Of those , 202,100 were two-wheelers , up by + 11 % from 182,100 for the first half of 2016 , generating net sales of 541.7 million euro , up + 6.8 %.