Jaguar Cars and History
Founded in 1922, the automotive business entity now commonly known as Jaguar was originally called the Swallow Sidecar Company, with its home in the north-west coastal town of Blackpool. The original Swallow Sidecar Company was founded by two motorbike enthusiasts, William Walmsley and William Lyons. The company changed its name in 1922, the named shortened to SS Cars Ltd, with the business now located in Coventry. The now commonly known Jaguar Cars Ltd was formed in 1945, with the old business named of SS loosing popularity due to the Second World War.
The change of name, and the introduction of several highly success luxury cars in the fifties, saw the company stamp its mark on the market. In 1960, 38 years after Swallow Sidecar Company was founded, Jaguar Cars Ltd bought Daimler Motor Company, which was formally owned by the Birmingham Small Arms Company. This had not been the first time the two companies’ paths had crossed, with Jaguar shifting its production to the former Daimler Motor Company factory, located on Browns Lane, in the early fifties. The purchase of Daimler Motor Company from the Birmingham Small Arms Company saw the Daimler name used as a branding name for many of Jaguars most elegantly styled cars in the sixties.
1966 saw the merger of Jaguar Cars Ltd and the British Motor Company to form the British Motor Holdings company. 2 years later saw yet another merge, with the newly created British Motor Holdings merge with Leyland, a company which had already bought Triumph and Rover, resulting in the British Leyland Motor Corporation. British Leyland Motor Corp ran into financial difficulties, leading to the official report from the UK government regarding the future of the large and powerful company. The Ryder report, produced by Sir Don Ryder who was the head of the National enterprise Board, recommended vast capital expenditure from the government, coupled with an injection of working capital. The report outlined a fundamentally sound business, although the company had washed up on shores due to poor management and organisation structure within the company. The nationalisation of the company was said to be in the best interest of the company, and the UK as a whole, with up to one million workers at risk if the government allowed the company to collapse. Read the rest of this entry »
The Elegant and Powerful Jaguar Car
A car which is a symbol of classic elegance and quality performance is the Jaguar. The name Jaguar made its debut in the United Kingdom and since then has been the icon for Britain’s upper class society. Although recently, Jaguar has been acquired by the joint efforts of several automotive manufacturers, it still has the undeniable character of luxurious English tradition.
The Jaguar tradition began when William Walmsley and Bill Lyons started a company called Swallow Sidecar in 1922. It was based in England and was involved in the production of sidecars for motorcycles made of aluminum. In 1933, the name of the company changed to SS Cars Ltd when they decided to enter into the production of cars. The SS Jaguar 100 was officially the first Jaguar car.
SS Cars again changed its name to Jaguar after the Second World War to avoid any connection with the Nazi army which had the same letter initials. The Jaguar Mark V came out in 1948, which was the first post war production car to be produced by Jaguar. The Mark V was a sedan and was followed by the XK120 which gained its popularity due to its high speed performance. It was this car that catapulted the fame of Jaguar into the forefront of the automotive industry.
The Jaguar cars were introduced to the United States in the 1950s. The car model Mark VII Saloon was especially designed for the American consumer and proved to be an important product on the market. That same car won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1956. The Mark VIII and Mark IX soon followed their predecessor. Read the rest of this entry »