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Jaguar Car Company

The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley in 1922, producing sidecars for motorbikes. By 1926, they had produced their first ‘peoples car', an Austin Seven which was Spartan in design when you compare it to modern Jaguars. At around this time, the company changed its name to Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Co. They moved to a much larger manufacturing space where it made custom bodies for Fiat, Wolesley, Morris, Standard and Swift.

By 1927, Lyons had progressed from building motorbikes to building special bodied cars. In 1931, this resulted in the launch of the SS1, the car that would set the tone for all Jaguars to come. The range improved and expanded and it became apparent to Lyons he needed a name to reflect the power, speed and sleekness of the company's cars. The name Jaguar seemed to sum it all up, but wouldn't become effective until 1935.

William Lyons bought out his partner in 1936; becoming Managing Director. He changed the company name again to SS Cars Ltd. The Jaguar badge at this point had already appeared on a 2.5 litre saloon in 1935. The entire company didn't take the name Jaguar until 1945.

After the Second World War, Jaguar moved away from manufacturing the sidecars for the military effort and put their new knowledge of aircraft design and production techniques, into the world of car manufacture. The 1948 Motor Show saw Jaguar unveil its newest automobile, the XK120. It had an unprecedented engine output of 160BHP, it stole the show and was destined to become one of the greatest sports cars of all time. 2 years later, in 1950 Jaguar introduced The Mark VII, once again, they stole the show. Jaguar was now had the reputation they had been craving. They were now regarded as a very reputable company.

During the 1950's, Jaguar made a great name for themselves with a series of elegant sports cars and luxury saloons. Jaguar raced three C-types at the race at Le Mans in 1951. Considering this was to be their first competition race, and the fact that they were outsiders to win, they recorded a remarkable victory.

Jaguar returned to Le Mans in 1953 with a new weapon up their sleeve. They had been developing with Dunlop, an innovative idea called the disc brake. The idea was that the C-types fade-free brakes could decelerate at the end of a three mile straight from speeds of 150 mph with complete confidence and with a far later braking time than all the rivals. The result of the race was a complete success for Jaguar, the C-types came in first, second and fourth. This was no one-off for Jaguar. They went on to prove their worth time and time again, and by the end of the decade, the C-types and the D-types that followed had achieved a total of 5 Le Mans victories.

The E-type arrived in 1961 and was another gargantuan leap forward for Jaguar. Like the XK120 in 1948, the E-type captured perfectly the mood and spirit of the time. An automotive icon to this day, it is arguably the most famous sports car of all time. 70,000 E-types were made over the next 13 years with roughly 60% of those shipped and sold in America.

In 1966 Jaguar merged with British Motor Corporation (BMC), the Austin-Morris combine, to form the company British Motor Holdings (BMH). By 1968, they had also merged with Leyland and Rover, becoming British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). This was also the year that Jaguar launched the XJ6 which was, without question, the finest jaguar saloon yet, and one of their most iconic cars. In an era when cars were loosing their identity and character; the XJ6's sleek shape firmly retained theirs for Jaguar. Eventually, financial difficulties that coincided with the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalisation in 1975 and the company became BL Ltd.

The seventies and eighties bought about some uncertainty for Jaguar. Their cars began to get something of a reputation for unreliability which did the company no favours in sales. In 1984, Jaguar was floated on the stock exchange as a separate company marking yet another of the Thatcher Governments privatisations. After many talks, the Ford Motor Company took ownership of Jaguar in 1990 and it was removed from the London Stock Exchange. By the end of the decade, Ford had included jaguar into their Premier Automotive Group which included the likes of Aston Martin (which was subsequently sold off in 2007), Volvo and from 2000 Land Rover. Unfortunately, since purchasing Jaguar in 1990, Ford have failed to turn over a profit for the Dearborn based auto manufacturer.

February 2001 saw Jaguar release the brand new X-type at the Geneva International Motor Show. It became the highlight of the show, as did the unveiling of the XJ at the Paris Motor Show a year later in 2002. The XJ featured a revolutionary aluminium body construction and received critical acclaim.

Jaguar has never strayed from Lyons initial vision. Today, they are still providing their customers with executive cars that embody style, luxury and performance.

Jaguar Car Insurance Models

E-Type Mark II S-Type Sovereign V8 X-Type XJ Series XJS XK