by Harvey Williams
The car voted 2008 What Car, car of the year, was the Jaguar XF, an award that it certainly deserved. Leasing and contract hire brokers are experiencing strong interest the car. It is hard to imagine that its manufacturer Jaguar was originally a manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars called the Swallow Sidecar Company. It started when two motorcycle enthusiasts formed a new partnership in 1922, they were William Lyons and William Walmsley. In many partnerships there is one of the partners who really drives the company forward, in this case it was Lyons.
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.
It didn’t take the company long before they were producing their own car the company launched the SS1 in 1931. It sold for 310 but actually looked a lot more expensive. It was low, had wire wheels and was quite long, the overall impression was of an expensive sports car. It was shown at the 1931 Motor Show and gathered large crowds. The Company name was changed again during 1933 to SS Cars and they launched the SS1 Tourer. William Walmsley resigned from the company.
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.
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.
Jaguar did very well during the 1950’s; the Mark V11 was introduced, which enjoyed a great deal of success in motor racing. Stirling Moss raced the car, as did the Formula 1 world champion Mike Hawthorn. It also came first in the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally. Rack and pinion steering was a new feature when the XK140 was launched in 1954. The other new feature was a rear seat designed for seating small children, perhaps not seen as a great asset by the typical purchaser of an XK140. The new feature of the XK150 when it was launched was disc brakes. Also launched was the Mark 1X and the very popular Mark1 and Mark 11.
When the Mark 11 was launched in 1959 it was a prestige car favoured by successful businessmen but it also became the car driven by the successful criminal. It was also a favourite with car thieves; usually used a few days later as a getaway vehicle for jewellery and bank robberies. In order to keep up the police bought the same model and modified the engine. A Mark 11 Jaguar went under the hammer in an auction in Florida during 2008 for over $75,000 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.
In 1968 Jaguar launched the XJ6, between 68 and 73 they manufactured nearly 100,000. The series 11 was launched and in one form or another, the XJ continued in production for many years. It proved to be an ideal car for the owner to either drive him or herself or be chauffer driven, it was neither two large or too small for either option. William Lyons finally retired from the company in 1972.
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.
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.
Ford got some return on their investment into Land Rover but not from Jaguar. Ford was worried about the future of large cars and in 2001 launched the X Type. It was hoped that it would rival BMW’s and Mercedes’ entry models, it did not. Using Ford Mondeo components in the X Type did not help its reputation, Jaguar was after all a luxury brand. With the benefit of hindsight Ford must have seen the X Type as a big mistake.
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.
Some were dismayed to learn that Jaguar had fallen into foreign hands but wasn’t it already in foreign hands? More important is perhaps that Jaguar now has a long term future. From past experience it seems clear that to succeed Jaguar needs to be left alone and Tata have made it very clear that they do not plan to interfere with the day to day running of Jaguar.
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.
