Less than two years after TVS Motor Co. Ltd created a dual-executive structure to steer the turnaround of its British premium motorcycle brand Norton, one of the two executives, Nevijo Mance, has left the company as it prepares for a phased expansion across the UK, Europe, India and the US.
Mance stepped down from Norton's board in early April 2026, according to the company’s annual filings with the UK’s company registrar submitted in July. No replacement director has been appointed, the filings show. A person aware of the matter said Mance stepped back from his role for personal reasons and was not prompted to leave by TVS leadership or Norton's board.
TVS did not respond to Mint’s emailed request for comment until press time.
The departure comes as Norton moves into a critical phase of its turnaround under TVS. The company is preparing to begin retail operations in the UK, Europe, India and the US in phases, with dealer agreements already in place, according to its annual filings.
Mance, appointed executive director in 2024, was responsible for upstream functions including product design, development and engineering, manufacturing, procurement, quality control and supply-chain management. The other executive director, Richard Arnold, remains in place and oversees downstream functions including marketing, brand management, sales, distribution, customer relations, after-sales service, product management and public relations.
Deepesh Rathore, founder and head of research at auto consultancy InsightEV, said Mance joined at a critical time and managed to get Norton’s products out within his relatively short stint.
"The Nortons have been well received, at least by the trade media. The products are ready, the supply chain is already moving, and TVS can take over because all the Norton's tasks after this could be smaller in size. I don't know his reasons for exiting but his replacement doesn't need to be immediate or urgent," he said.
Leadership shift
The departure marks the latest leadership change at Norton since TVS acquired the struggling British motorcycle brand in 2020 in an all-cash deal for ₹153 crore, as part of an effort to revive and turn around the business.
In November 2024, Norton chief executive Robert Hentschel stepped down from his post and moved to the board as a non-executive director. Mance was subsequently appointed executive director.
TVS had created the dual executive director structure to divide operational responsibilities between Mance and Arnold. Mance and Arnold were both inducted into Norton's board.
Following Mance’s departure, Norton's filings list TVS chairman emeritus Venu Srinivasan, former TVS chair Ralf Speth, TVS chair and managing director Sudarshan Venu, TVS chief executive KN Radhakrishnan, TVS Group Strategy head Sharad Mohan Mishra, Arnold and Hendrik Dietrich Eberhard Von Kuenheim among the company’s directors.
Mance, who has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, previously worked at Jaguar Land Rover and BMW Group before joining Norton. He was among the executives on stage with Sudarshan Venu and Sharad Mohan Mishra when Norton unveiled its new product lineup at EICMA 2025, an annual trade show in Milan, Italy, featuring motorcycles.
The leadership transition comes as TVS continues to invest heavily in reviving Norton. Mint reported on 2 July that TVS had booked nearly ₹2,000 crore in losses at Norton since acquiring the company in 2020, equivalent to about one-fifth of its profit over the past six years. The losses reflect TVS’s investment in rebuilding the brand and its global operations.
Expansion push
Norton is now preparing for a broader international rollout.
“As part of its growth strategy, Norton is preparing for phased international expansion, with an initial focus on the UK, Europe, India and USA in phase 1. With dealer agreements already in place, the Company is well positioned to commence retail operations from Q1 FY2026-27,” the company said in its annual filings with the UK registrar.
TVS is targeting 200 dealer touch points globally for the 2026 season and eventually wants to scale Norton’s annual volumes to 20,000 motorcycles.
“We're targeting 200 dealer touch points globally for the 2026 season and looking at over a period of time scaling up to 20,000 numbers a year, but not immediately, over a period of time,” Venu had said in an interview with Mint in October 2025.
Norton’s sales remain negligible, as the brand did not launch a new motorcycle after TVS acquired it in 2020 until unveiling its new product lineup at EICMA last year. Sales of the new models are set to begin in the current fiscal year. Norton's motorcycles will compete in the ultra-premium segment against brands such as Triumph, KTM and BMW, among others.
Norton’s expansion is being monitored by Venu as TVS seeks to build its presence in premium motorcycles globally. Analysts have said international expansion through TVS’s own offerings and Norton could help the company benefit from the premiumization trend.
“TVS’s consistent market share gains across key domestic and export segments, along with a gradual improvement in margins, have driven healthy returns over the years. We expect this outperformance to continue, given its healthy new launch pipeline, which in turn is likely to help sustain its premium valuations,” analysts at Motilal Oswal said in a 21 July report.