What Car magazine voted the Jaguar XF car of the year 2008. The award was well deserved. Leasing and contract hire companies are experiencing strong demand for the XF. It somehow seems odd that the manufacturers of a car so expertly designed and advanced technologically, should have started out as a manufacturer of sidecars; the Swallow Sidecar Company. Started in 1922 by William Walmsley and William Lyons both very keen motorcyclists. However the real driving force behind the company was William 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.

By the late 1920′s the company had ventured into cars and built the body for the Austin Seven, a fairly basic and inexpensive car that proved extremely popular. They changed the name of the company to The Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company and moved from Blackpool where they had been based, to bigger premises in Coventry. Coventry was at the time the centre of the British motor industry. Their work became recognized and respected throughout the industry and they went on to build the bodies for many different manufacturers.

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.

In keeping with the company’s move into car production the company name was changed to SS Cars in 1933, not long after this William Walmsley resigned. The SS1 Tourer was launched, followed in the mid 1930′s by the sporty SS90, costing less than 400. Then came the 2,663 cc, twin carburettor SS100, for its day it was very fast. However a 3,845 cc version was launched and shown at the 1938 Motor Show. It never properly went into production because the Second World War started soon after.

As was the case with German Motor manufacturers the company’s production was switched to the war effort. The German manufacturing plants were prime targets for the allied force’s bombing raids and the Germans naturally tried to take out the UK manufacturing plants, Coventry became one of the most heavily targeted cities.

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 XK120 was first shown at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1948. So called because that was the top speed of the car, very fast indeed for it’s day. At the time there was nothing that could match its speed and excellent road holding. It was however the design that made it so breathtaking, a design that even today is so admired, an open sports car with wire wheels often seen with a leather strap over the bonnet. Men dreamed of owning one, girls dreamed of being driven around in one. It became know, perhaps a little unfairly, as the cad’s car; with images of a rather unchivalrous Terry Thomas type character behind the wheel.

The 1950′s were a wonderful time for Jaguar; the Mark V11 was launched, a large impressive saloon that proved very successful in motor racing. Mike Hawthorn Britain’s first Formula One world champion and Stirling Moss both raced in it. In 1956 the Mark V11 won the Monte Carlo rally. The XK140 was introduced during 1954; it had rack and pinion steering. It also had other new features including a seat at the rear that could accommodate small children. Although small children were probably far from the mind of the typical purchaser of the XK140, thinking perhaps more about speeding along the coast road of the Cote d’Azur. This was followed by the XK150, with disc brakes, and also Mark1, the Mark 11, the Mark V11 and the Mark 1X.

In the late 50′s and early 60′successful businessmen drove the Mark 11 but strangely it also became the mark of the successful villain. It was also targeted by car thieves, once stolen they would be used as getaway cars for Jewellery smash and grab and bank robberies. Police then bought the Mark 11 and to give themselves an edge, modified the engines. In a Florida auction in 2008 a Mark 11 was sold for $75,900.

The Mark X came out in 1961; it was originally aimed at the US market and was really a very big car for the UK. It was approaching 17 feet in length and very wide. The fuel consumption was 17 mpg, which was unacceptable to many British motorists. 1961 also saw the launch of the amazing E Type; first seen at the Geneva Motor Show it took the motoring world by storm. The design was far head of it’s time. It was probably the most desired car that has ever been produced, those that could afford the 2000 price tag, bought one. 2000 was a lot of money in 1961, but still less expensive than its rivals it was a very proud moment for Jaguar

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.

The XJS was produced from 1975 until 1996. The design appeared to fall short of what had become expected of Jaguar it nevertheless was very well received by the motoring press. Jaguar appeared to be back on track when they launched the XK8 in 1997. Its design was sleek and elegant and reminded some of the wonderful E Type launched 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 Jaguar’s fortunes started to change they became part of the British Leyland Corporation; British Leyland had become very large and chaotic. Labour relations deteriorated to an all time low and whilst Sir William did everything he could to look after Jaguar and its workforce Morale was slipping and it deteriorated further when Jaguar’s founder retired in 1972. Even the company’s name had been changed from Jaguar Cars ltd to British Leyland Exports ltd; it appeared to be change for the sake of change but it certainly caused the workforce to further loose identity. The inevitable happened and in 1975 the company went bankrupt and was nationalised by the government. One can only imagine what Sir William felt for Jaguar the company he had nursed for fifty years.

Jaguar was then in the hands of Bob Knight a loyal Jaguar man, who was determined to turn the company around. Jaguar reputation for poor reliability was becoming well known and sales were dropping. Knight was convinced that a lot of the company’s quality problems were as a result of outside suppliers supplying components that were of poor quality and subsequently failing, making Jaguar cars look bad in the eyes of the public.

John Egan took over from Bob Knight in 1980, not joining at the best of times; he took over whilst the Jaguar workers were on strike. He didn’t really know what he could offer them, so he asked them to trust him and they agreed to go back to work. Michael Edwards head of what was now called BL, agreed to give Jaguar more independence. Egan carried on with Bob Knights fight to return the company to its earlier profitability. Morale improved but it was going to be long struggles in 1981 just over 13,000 Jaguars were sold.

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.

The company and had survived and was secure once more, John Egan was chief executive. Jaguar was bought by Ford in 1989 paying $2.5 billion a very large investment indeed and in the following year invested many more billions into the two companies they had bought; Jaguar and Land Rover.

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.

Ford was running into problems, it sold it’s interests in Aston Martin during 2007. Jaguar and Land Rover were sold together for $2.3 billion in March 2008. The purchaser was Tata an Indian motor manufacturer, with many other diverse interests around the world. A substantial loss for Ford made worse by having make up the shortfall in both Jaguar and Land Rover’s pension funds, this cost them a further $600,000. Any benefit from the excellent XF model, designed whilst they owned the company, will now go to Tata. At least the sale of its various subsidiaries has allowed Ford to concentrate more on their own problems, without the added distractions.

More importantly Jaguar’s future seems to be secure. Jaguar needs to have its identity to succeed and Tata have confirmed that is how they want it to be. Naturally they will want to have some input but they will probably keep that to a minimum acknowledging that Jaguar is very special case and can do very well if left to get on with things.

A poll was carried out in Germany in 2006, which quite surprisingly revealed that the majority of those polled considered Jaguar a better car than Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Jaguar has always been very strongly favoured by the American market too. The Jaguar XF is proving extremely popular and contract hire and leasing companies are receiving healthy orders for the car. And all this started from motorcycle sidecars some 86 years ago.

Tags: Auto

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