A brief history of Jaguar cars
The car voted 2008 What Car, car of the year, was the Jaguar XF, an award that it certainly deserved. Leasing and contract hire brokers are experiencing strong interest the car. It is hard to imagine that its manufacturer Jaguar was originally a manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars called the Swallow Sidecar Company. It started when two motorcycle enthusiasts formed a new partnership in 1922, they were William Lyons and William Walmsley. In many partnerships there is one of the partners who really drives the company forward, in this case it was Lyons.
Lyons and Walmsley certainly went into the market at the right time; motorcycle sidecars were extremely popular at the time and continued to be right through till the 60’s. The reason being that the average worker could not afford a car, once they could motorcycles almost disappeared from Britain’s roads, until their revival many years later. Sidecars proved so popular because they allowed the married man to take his family out on day trips. They could accommodate the children whilst the wife would ride pillion, crash helmets however were not a legal requirement at the time. The Swallow Sidecar Company captured market share by having very appealing designs.
During the late 20’s the company had started to build car bodies. The Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company became their new name, which they felt was more in keeping with the work they were doing and they built the body for the very popular Austin 7. Soon they moved from their premises in Blackpool to larger premises in Coventry, where many of the motor manufacturers were based. Other manufacturers started to ask them to also build their car bodies and the company was really starting to get off the ground.
The company then produced their own car in 1931, the SS1. The vehicle was long and with a low-slung body and wire wheels. The car was very stylish and looked far more expensive than 310, which is what it cost. It was exhibited at the 1931 London Motor Show and attracted a great deal of interest.
The SS90 was introduced during the mid 30’s; its cost was under 400, which was very good value for money and the design was very sporty. Next came the SS100, it had twin carburettors and 2,633 cc engine. The car was fast, however an even faster version went on show at the Motor Show in 1938, this time with a 3,845 cc engine. Its production was interrupted by the start of the Second World War.
Normal production stopped during the war as it did for all motor manufacturers. Both German and British motor manufacturers switched their production to military vehicles. Because of it’s concentration of manufacturing industry, Coventry was heavily bombed by the Germans. Equally Volkswagen BMW and Mercedes were prime targets for the allied forces.
SS Cars had little choice but to change its name after the war, sales would not have been helped by having a name that was so closely associated with the recently defeated Nazi Germany. Jaguar Cars became the company’s new name in 1948. That year also saw the launch of the outstanding XK 120.
The XK 120 was unveiled at the 1948 Motor Show; it was called 120 because of the car’s top speed, which was very fast in 1948. There was nothing that equalled its road holding and speed. It was its lines however that made it so outstanding, even 60 years on there are few people who would not find the car beautiful. It was a soft-top sport car, it had wire wheels and sometimes the bonnet had a leather strap. Girls dreamed of sitting in the passenger seat with the wind blowing through their hair, perhaps not surprisingly men rather liked the idea of being in the driving seat. It’s image later became a little tarnished when it was rather unfairly seen as a cad’s car; depicted being driven by a Terry Thomas type character, complete with cigarette holder.
Jaguar enjoyed enormous success in the 50’s; it saw the launch of the Mark V11 it was a large impressive car that enjoyed motor racing success. Britain’s Mike Hawthorn, the country’s first Formula 1 driver raced the car, as did Stirling Moss. The 1956 Monte Carlo Rally was won by a Mark V11. 1954 saw the introduction of the XK 140; it had new features such as rack and pinion steering and a rear seat suitable for small children. It is debatable whether the typical buyer had small children in mind when buying an XK140. Next came the XK150 this model had disc brakes. Jaguar launched the Mark 1, the Mark 11 and the Mark 1X.
When the Mark 11 was launched in 1959 it was a prestige car favoured by successful businessmen but it also became the car driven by the successful criminal. It was also a favourite with car thieves; usually used a few days later as a getaway vehicle for jewellery and bank robberies. In order to keep up the police bought the same model and modified the engine. A Mark 11 Jaguar went under the hammer in an auction in Florida during 2008 for over $75,000 USD.
In 1961 Jaguar launched the Mark X, it was a very large car much more suitable for the American market than Britain. It was long and wide and did just seventeen miles per gallon, which was not to much of a problem in the US where they were used to gas guzzling cars but of course they were paying much less for their fuel. In the UK it was too large and expensive to run for most .The car became know in some circles as the poor man’s Rolls Royce. The revolutionary E Type was launched in the same year. It was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, the motoring press and public couldn’t believe their eyes; it was a most extraordinary looking car, long, low and sleek, with a bonnet that seemed to go on for ever. To describe the car as eye catching would be an understatement; when it was first on the road, it stopped traffic and pedestrians in their tracks. Jaguar must have been very proud of their achievement.
1968 saw the introduction of the XJ6 an extremely popular car; nearly 100,000 were produced between 1968 and 1973. The Series 11 was then produced and the XJ model has continued in one form or another right through to the present day. William Lyons retired from Jaguar in 1972.
1975 saw the introduction of the XJS; the motoring press gave it very good reviews but some Jaguar enthusiasts were disappointed with the design. Some twelve years later their faith in the Jaguar design team was restored when the XK8 was launched in 1997. A wonderfully designed car that had almost as much class and style as the E Type of some 36 years earlier.
In 1966 Sir William Lyons, who had been knighted for his services to industry, was negotiating with BMC. Both BMC and Leyland had shown a keen interest in buying Jaguar. The fact that there was serious competition to buy Jaguar, very much strengthened William Lyons’ hand in his negotiations with BMC. The sale went through and Lyons got everything he wanted; Jaguar would remain autonomous and Sir William Lyons had a seat on the board of the newly formed BMH.
In 1968 when Jaguar became a division of British Leyland, Sir William continued to fight Jaguar’s corner but the company was in chaos. Jaguar’s workforce were demoralised further in 1972 when Sir William retired. Inevitably build quality suffered. British Leyland Exports became the new name for the company that had previously been Jaguar Cars ltd and morale plunged even further. After British Leyland’s bankruptcy in 1975 the Labour government nationalised the company.
Jaguar was then run by Bob Knight, very much a Jaguar man who was determined to reverse Jaguar’s poor reputation. There was no doubt that the employees’ low morale was causing the quality to suffer but Knight felt that outside suppliers were taking advantage of the situation and supplying inferior components. Jaguar were becoming know as a car to steer clear of, unless you had very deep pockets; there were no three year warranties in those days.
John Egan replaced Bob Knight in 1980 with the aim to carry on the struggle of getting Jaguar back to profitability. Now know as BL, it’s boss Michael Edwards realized that Jaguar needed more independence, which he gave to Egan. When Egan started his first day the workforce were out on strike. He could not really offer them anything concrete because he hadn’t had the chance to access the situation. Instead he asked them to have faith in him and work re-started. In 1981 sales only just managed to go over 13,000 cars.
The problem that was first recognised by Bob Knight; outside companies supplying poor quality components to Jaguar, was one of the first areas tackled by Egan; supplying Jaguar with components became conditional on the supplier taking responsibility for the reliability of their components and having to cover the cost of the replacement warranty work if they failed. Perhaps not surprisingly, quality improved very quickly.
Morale amongst the workforce improved when in 1982 the company was restored to Jaguar Cars ltd effectively giving it back its identity and in 1984 the Thatcher government privatised the company, it became Jaguar plc. After so much turmoil the company was safe again. Ford bought Jaguar in 1989 in a deal worth $2.5 billion. Over the following years it is estimated that they invested another $10,000 billion between the two companies they had acquired, Land Rover and Jaguar
The company was renamed in 1982 and once again became Jaguar Cars ltd. The Thatcher government returned Jaguar to a private company in 1984 and it became Jaguar plc.
Whilst Land Rover did make some profits, Ford never really made money from Jaguar, in spite of the substantial sums it invested into the company. The ill-fated X Type was launched in 2001, designed to rival the 3 Series BMW but it was a break from the traditional Jaguar. With its Ford Mondeo components, it did little for Jaguar’s bottom line or reputation.
Some were worried when they learned of Jaguar’s sale to Tata, feeling that Jaguar should remain British, forgetting that Jaguar hasn’t been British since 1989.
There has been some comment that Jaguar, that represents everything that is British, has now fallen into foreign hands but Jaguar has been in foreign hands since 1989 and what is most important is that the company survives. It is very clear from the history of Jaguar, that it needs autonomy in order to succeed. Tata have made it clear that it does not intend to “meddle” with Jaguar and that it wants the Jaguar tradition to survive and prosper.
30,000 Germans were polled in 2006, this revealed that the majority of Germans preferred Jaguar to Mercedes, Audi and BMW. The new XF has been an enormous success and contract hire and leasing companies are placing large orders for the car. After all it’s ups and downs Jaguar seems to be as strongly placed as it has ever been.














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