Jaguar Started Out Life As A Manufacturer Of Motorcycle Sidecars

The new Jaguar XF was voted by What Car magazine, car of the year 2008 and quite deservedly so. Contract hire and leasing companies are seeing a strong demand for the vehicle. It seems strange that a vehicle so beautiful and technologically advanced should have its beginnings with a motorcycle sidecar manufacturer; during 1922 two keen motorcyclists William Lyons and William Walmsley formed the Swallow Sidecar Company and stared manufacturing aluminium sidecars. Of the two William Lyons was the driving force behind the company.

During this period and right through to the 1960's motorcycle sidecars were very popular; many people could not afford to buy a car so a motorcycle was usually the answer. However as motorcycle owners got married and had children they wanted to be able to go out on day trips as a family, so they would purchase and permanently attach a sidecar to their motorcycle. The sidecar would accommodate their wife and children, or their wife would ride pillion and the children would sit, reasonably well protected from the elements, in the sidecar. Sidecars were big business and the Swallow Sidecar Company had some of the most attractive designs on the market.

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.

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.

During the Second World War the company's manufacturing was switched to military production, as were the car manufacturers in Germany. Just as the allied forces heavily targeted the German motor manufacturer's factories during their bombing raids, Coventry became one of the most heavily bombed cities in Britain.

In 1948 the company's name changed to Jaguar cars. Clearly the SS name had to be dropped, considering the possible association with the horrific SS in Nazi Germany. The Jaguar XK 120 was launched in the same year. It is said that it was designed during those war years, at night, whilst the designers, were on fire watch; it was standard procedure during the war to have personnel on fire watch duty, to ensure that the factory was still going to be there in the morning.

The Earls Court Motor Show in 1948 saw the unveiling of the XK 120; 120 being the top speed of the car. It may not sound very fast today but it was very fast in those days. It's speed and road holding were unmatched. Also unmatched was its design it was quite staggeringly beautiful, both then and now. It was a drop head sports car that was so desirable because of it's combination of speed and looks. Demand was strong and it now very much is a collector's car.

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.

The Mark 11 came out in 1959 and proved to be an extremely popular car with successful business people but also became associated with the criminal world; successful criminals tended to favour the Mark 11 Jaguar. It also became a target for car thieves; they were often then used as getaway cars for bank and jewellery robberies. Later the police bought a number of them and modified the engines so they could keep up. A Jaguar Mark 11 was sold at a Florida auction in February 2008 for $75,900 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.

The XJ6 was launched in 1968 and it proved extremely popular between 1968 and 1973 almost 100,000 came off the production line. The series two was to follow and various versions of this model continued through to the present day. During 1972 William Lyons retired from Jaguar.

The XJS sports car came out in 1975 and the model ran until 1996. It was produced in both a fixed head and convertible model. The car received excellent reviews from the motoring press but the design seemed to lack some of the previous Jaguar style. Twelve years later in 1997 came the XK8 a beautifully designed sports car reminiscent of the stylish E Type launched some thirty-six years earlier.

In 1966 William Lyons who had by now become Sir William Lyons was in talks with BMC, who were keen to buy Jaguar. The fact that British Leyland had also expressed a strong interest in Jaguar, allowed Sir William to negotiate from a position of strength. BMC eventually bought Jaguar and BMH was formed. Sir William got the deal he wanted.

Jaguar became part the British Leyland Corporation in 1968; William Lyons retained a seat on the board and he continued to fight for Jaguar. British Leyland was a very large organisation, which was in turmoil and the situation took a turn for the worse for Jaguar when Sir William Lyons retired in 1972, the company seemed to lose its way. Jaguar Cars ltd became British Leyland Exports ltd. Morale amongst the workforce deteriorated and build quality started to suffer. In 1975 British Leyland became bankrupt and was nationalised by the then Labour government.

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.

When Bob Knight joined the company the workforce were on strike. He didn't have much to offer the workforce at that early stage but persuaded them to put their faith in him and production re-started. The low morale, from which the company had suffered, started to recover. Things did not improve overnight and in 1981 Jaguar only managed to sell a little over 13,000 cars.

John Egan quickly spotted the problem first identified by Bob Knight; that poor quality components were being supplied by outside companies. Egan very cleverly made it a condition of supplying Jaguar with components, that the third party would be responsible to Jaguar, for the warranty costs if their parts failed. This focused the minds of the suppliers and quality quickly improved.

Jaguar never made money for Ford, Land Rover on the other hand did make a profit. 2001 saw the launch of the X Type, which was pretty much a disaster; it had Ford Mondeo components and a real image problem. It was intended to compete with the BMW three series market but became a favourite amongst retirees; it was not good for Jaguar's reputation.

Ford sold Aston Martin in 2007; they had problems and wanted to get back to basics. This was followed by the sale of land Rover and Jaguar in 2008. The sale price was $2.3 billion, less than Ford had paid for Jaguar some nine years earlier. However both companies had a shortfall in their pension schemes, this had to be made up by Ford at the cost of $600 million. Tata the Indian conglomerate was the purchaser.

Ford had problems of its own and needed to concentrate on their own core business, Jaguar was eventually put up for sale along with Land Rover. Ford had sold most of its stake in Aston Martin in 2007 and in March 2008 both Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata the Indian motor manufacturer for $2.3 billion. It must have been a bitter pill for Ford to swallow, made even more bitter, by having to find a further $600 million to make up the shortfall in the two companies' pension funds. Furthermore Ford will miss out on the success of the new XF model.

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.

In 2006 of 30,000 Germans polled, the majority favoured Jaguar over the German produced Mercedes, BMW and Audi; Jaguar is also extremely popular in America. The XF model being hailed as a triumph and with contract hire and leasing companies, that are responsible for so many of the cars on the roads of Britain, placing significant orders for this model, there seems no reason why Jaguar will not be around for another 86 years.

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