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The Legacy of the Big Cat - Jaguar
Jaguar cars with their iconic leaping cat logos belong to the reputed luxury car brand from England that needs no introduction. Many are acquainted with the brand but here is a little briefing on the birth of this marquee and its journey in the world of luxury and sports cars.
William Lyons, a 22 year old motorcycle enthusiast with his help of his friend William Walmsey launched the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922 at a place named Blackpool in England to develop motorcycles and sidecars for it. Later in a gradual progress the company started developing and designing chassis for the car body developed by Austin, Fiat, and many other car companies of that era. Later in 1933 the company ventured with Standard Motor Company (a chassis builder) to build the first car SS1.
In 1935 the first car with the name Jaguar was unveiled at the London Auto Show. The company started growing in a good pace in a very short time. The company through its exhibition received great response resulting in bagging numerous orders. Though the company started with designing the side car for motorcycles, they soon went up designing car bodies. With the creative brains of the Lyons, he turned an ugly Austin car body into a very handsome car. The Austin design created a sensation in the market and from then there was no looking back. With the growing popularity and orders the space in Blackpool started shrinking and in 1928, the company was shifted to Coventry (9th largest city in England).
After creating design wonders with car bodies and expanding business, now this talented lad wanted to build his own car. The engine and the chassis for the car were arranged by the Standard Motor Company and Lyons himself designed the car. The chassis turned into a complete stylish touring machine with low-slung body. He enhanced it with a pointed radiator and an extremely luxurious cabin. Lyons had created two prototypes models for showcasing. Naming the car created a rift between the Lyons and John Black (Head of Standard Motor Company). Lyons wanted to name the car as Swallow Sports and John Black wanted to call it as Standard Special. Finally a name was decided that would keep both of them happy, the model was christened as SS. These models were a great success and SS-I and SS-II become very popular and rose two-fold in demand. Finally by 1933 the side car company started by Lyons became a full-fledged automobile company.
Though good responses for the cars were pouring in, Lyons was not very happy with the cars he designed. The SS series were very sporty looking cars but it lacked in power. In order to overcome this drawback, Lyons appointed a young creative engineer William Heynes. He got some changes under the hood by adding more power and speed to the car. But this too did not impress Lyons as he wanted to bring out a high-performance sports car. Later he developed a car with an aluminum body (it made the car light weight) and named it as SS-90. This car could easily do a 90 mph.
This model created a sensation in the market. The sales were soaring high and Lyons started working on the next project which would give 100 mph to his customers. The new car was powered by a 2.5-litre engine which was adorned by a new body and a chassis. This time too he experienced difficulty in naming the car. As he was the great lover of wildlife, he decided to think of some powerful challenging name for the model. The qualities of the car led him to choose the name Jaguar and this how the big cat became the part of the car industry. Officially the car was called as SS-Jaguar and received overwhelmed response but this car as per Lyon’s dream was unable to deliver 100 mph. Later Heynes was asked to create a more powerful car that will offer 100 mph to the customers. This car with all new engine was named as SS-100 which till date is one of the popular Jaguars. The exterior was complimented with sleek cues, scintillating grille which gave the car an elegant charm.
The Jaguar product line started expanding. During the World War II the SS cars Ltd was involved in the aircraft production. When the World War II came to an end the Jaguar fame had grown tremendously and by now the entire corporation was called as Jaguar Cars Ltd.
William Lyons, a 22 year old motorcycle enthusiast with his help of his friend William Walmsey launched the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922 at a place named Blackpool in England to develop motorcycles and sidecars for it. Later in a gradual progress the company started developing and designing chassis for the car body developed by Austin, Fiat, and many other car companies of that era. Later in 1933 the company ventured with Standard Motor Company (a chassis builder) to build the first car SS1.
In 1935 the first car with the name Jaguar was unveiled at the London Auto Show. The company started growing in a good pace in a very short time. The company through its exhibition received great response resulting in bagging numerous orders. Though the company started with designing the side car for motorcycles, they soon went up designing car bodies. With the creative brains of the Lyons, he turned an ugly Austin car body into a very handsome car. The Austin design created a sensation in the market and from then there was no looking back. With the growing popularity and orders the space in Blackpool started shrinking and in 1928, the company was shifted to Coventry (9th largest city in England).
After creating design wonders with car bodies and expanding business, now this talented lad wanted to build his own car. The engine and the chassis for the car were arranged by the Standard Motor Company and Lyons himself designed the car. The chassis turned into a complete stylish touring machine with low-slung body. He enhanced it with a pointed radiator and an extremely luxurious cabin. Lyons had created two prototypes models for showcasing. Naming the car created a rift between the Lyons and John Black (Head of Standard Motor Company). Lyons wanted to name the car as Swallow Sports and John Black wanted to call it as Standard Special. Finally a name was decided that would keep both of them happy, the model was christened as SS. These models were a great success and SS-I and SS-II become very popular and rose two-fold in demand. Finally by 1933 the side car company started by Lyons became a full-fledged automobile company.
Though good responses for the cars were pouring in, Lyons was not very happy with the cars he designed. The SS series were very sporty looking cars but it lacked in power. In order to overcome this drawback, Lyons appointed a young creative engineer William Heynes. He got some changes under the hood by adding more power and speed to the car. But this too did not impress Lyons as he wanted to bring out a high-performance sports car. Later he developed a car with an aluminum body (it made the car light weight) and named it as SS-90. This car could easily do a 90 mph.
This model created a sensation in the market. The sales were soaring high and Lyons started working on the next project which would give 100 mph to his customers. The new car was powered by a 2.5-litre engine which was adorned by a new body and a chassis. This time too he experienced difficulty in naming the car. As he was the great lover of wildlife, he decided to think of some powerful challenging name for the model. The qualities of the car led him to choose the name Jaguar and this how the big cat became the part of the car industry. Officially the car was called as SS-Jaguar and received overwhelmed response but this car as per Lyon’s dream was unable to deliver 100 mph. Later Heynes was asked to create a more powerful car that will offer 100 mph to the customers. This car with all new engine was named as SS-100 which till date is one of the popular Jaguars. The exterior was complimented with sleek cues, scintillating grille which gave the car an elegant charm.
The Jaguar product line started expanding. During the World War II the SS cars Ltd was involved in the aircraft production. When the World War II came to an end the Jaguar fame had grown tremendously and by now the entire corporation was called as Jaguar Cars Ltd.
As a part of its business expansion, the Mark IV from the sedan segment was introduced in the U.S. markets and the car was welcomed by the people. The next project was to build a really powerful sports car and the Heynes was seen again experimenting with new engines. The result of this was the invention of a new X engines. It was started with the XA series and went up to XK. The first XK was 3-litre engine which had the capacity to produce 160 bhp. In the year 1948 XK-120 made its debut with a dramatic appearance. The car had low strung and long and wide fenders. The car was a great hit on the racing tracks with many victories. These victories made Jaguar one of the leaders in sports cars industry. Jaguar cars were so popular and powerful that they even began to compete with the Rolls Royce in terms of in appearance and luxury. Mark VII or VIII from the sedan segment became a symbol of status. Jaguar cars were the best on roads but the engineer Heynes wanted to prove the worth of Jaguar on the racing tracks and therefore he designed a exclusive racing car called XK-120C which was popularly known as C-Type. These racing cats ripped apart the Le Mans course in 1950. The models returned to their hometown with a trophy after an absence of sixteen years.
1955 was the era of the popular Jaguars. In the same year Heynes created another wonder model called the D-Type. The model was less wind resistant, and lighter. The XK engine which was used in Jaguar D-Type racing car was tuned again and by 1955 this car delivered over 170 mph in the straights.
After shining on the racing tracks the Jaguar (added upper case) cars were retired from the tracks and became more successful and popular among the private owners. But the company still concentrated on manufacturing sports cars and, of course the various sedans. The Sports XK-120 was followed by the XK-140 and the new XK-150.
As the time passed the XK engines started losing its popularity and people wanted to have a new engine. In the mid fifties the brand started selling only luxury and sports cars. In 1955 jaguar launched MK I which was not only targeted domestically but to a larger international market. The model was then followed by MK II which was an instant success. William Lyons stepped down as Managing Director of the Jaguar Group after it was sold to Daimler in the year 1960. But he remained the Chairman and Chief Executive. In 1966, Jaguar Cars Ltd. merged with the British Motor Corporation Ltd.
Sir William Lyons retired in 1972 and from there on started the confusion changes at the Jaguar. There was no one to head the company. Percy Plant was seen as the nominal chairman between 1979-80 and then in April 1980, John Egan became a full-time chief executive of the company. Under the new leadership of Egan, Jaguar saw a new era with stability.
In 1989 the U.S. based car manufacturer Ford took over Jaguar for $2.5 billion but later Ford Motors started experiencing loss. In June 2008, India-based car manufacturer Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from Ford Motors for US$ 2.3 billion.
1955 was the era of the popular Jaguars. In the same year Heynes created another wonder model called the D-Type. The model was less wind resistant, and lighter. The XK engine which was used in Jaguar D-Type racing car was tuned again and by 1955 this car delivered over 170 mph in the straights.
After shining on the racing tracks the Jaguar (added upper case) cars were retired from the tracks and became more successful and popular among the private owners. But the company still concentrated on manufacturing sports cars and, of course the various sedans. The Sports XK-120 was followed by the XK-140 and the new XK-150.
As the time passed the XK engines started losing its popularity and people wanted to have a new engine. In the mid fifties the brand started selling only luxury and sports cars. In 1955 jaguar launched MK I which was not only targeted domestically but to a larger international market. The model was then followed by MK II which was an instant success. William Lyons stepped down as Managing Director of the Jaguar Group after it was sold to Daimler in the year 1960. But he remained the Chairman and Chief Executive. In 1966, Jaguar Cars Ltd. merged with the British Motor Corporation Ltd.
Sir William Lyons retired in 1972 and from there on started the confusion changes at the Jaguar. There was no one to head the company. Percy Plant was seen as the nominal chairman between 1979-80 and then in April 1980, John Egan became a full-time chief executive of the company. Under the new leadership of Egan, Jaguar saw a new era with stability.
In 1989 the U.S. based car manufacturer Ford took over Jaguar for $2.5 billion but later Ford Motors started experiencing loss. In June 2008, India-based car manufacturer Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from Ford Motors for US$ 2.3 billion.
