Jaguar

Birth of the company

Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, Sir William Lyons, William Walmsley, the SS Jaguar name first appeared on a 2.5 litre saloon in 1935, sports models of which were the SS 90 and SS 100.

The Jaguar name was given to the entire company in 1945 when the "SS" name was dropped due to its association with Germany's SS military organisation much publicised and in Britain greatly reviled during and following World War II.^[7] Cash was short after the war and Jaguar sold to Rubery Owen the plant and premises of Motor Panels, a pressed steel body manufacturing company which had been acquired in the late 1930s when growth prospects had seemed more secure. Nevertheless, Jaguar achieved relative commercial success with their early post war models: times were also tough for other Coventry based auto-makers and the company was able to buy from John Black's Standard Motor Company the plant on which Standard had built the six cylinder engines which, hitherto, they had been supplying to Jaguar.

Jaguar made its name by producing a series of extremely eye-catching sports cars, in the XK 120 of 1949, developed into XK 140 and XK 150, and the E Type (or XKE in the US) of 1961. These were all successful and embodied Lyons' mantra of 'value for money'. They were also highly successful on the international stage of motorsport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company's products. Two of the proudest moments in Jaguar's long history in motor sport involved winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951 and again in 1953. The 1955 victory was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic events that occurred. Later in the hands of the Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse (who went down in legendary status for twice pulling off a David v Goliath effort in the famed car-killing race) two more wins were added in 1956/57.

However it was always Lyons intention to build the business by producing world-class sporting saloon (sedan) cars in larger numbers possible than the sports cars. Over many models they enjoyed some degree of success in this aim with the early 3 & 3 1/2 litre cars, the Mark 7/8/9, the compact saloons Mark I and 2, and XJ6 and XJ12. Again all were deemed to be very good value for money with their comfortable ride, good handling, high performance and great style.

The distinctive "leaping Jaguar" mascot

Jaguar, pronounced /ˈdʒæɡjuːər/ JAG-yew-ər (U.K.) or pronounced /ˈdʒæɡwɑr/ JAG-wahr (U.S.), made its name in the 1950s with a series of elegantly styled sports cars and luxury saloons. In 1951 the company leased what would quickly become its principal plant from the Daimler Motor Company^[10] (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), and in 1960 purchased Daimler from its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). From the late 1960s, Daimler was used as a brand name for Jaguar's most luxurious saloons.

British Leyland

Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC), the Austin-Morris combine, to form British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966. After merging with Leyland, which had already taken over Rover and Standard Triumph, the resultant company then became the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968. Financial difficulties and the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalisation in 1975 and the company became British Leyland, Ltd. (later simply BL plc).

In the 1970s the Jaguar and Daimler marques formed part of BL's specialist car division or Jaguar Rover Triumph Ltd until a restructure in the early 1980s saw most of the BL volume car manufacturing side becoming the Austin Rover Group within which Jaguar was not included. In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market — one of the Thatcher government's many privatisations.