JAGUAR - British-founded subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company

THE HISTORY OF JAGUAR

JAGUAR Jaguar Cars is a British-founded subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company famous for its luxury saloon and sports cars. Because Jaguar occupies both the performance and luxury markets, its competition is particularly diverse. It includes BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Cadillac, Lexus, Infiniti, as well as Lincoln in the U.S.. The company has been owned by the Ford Motor Company since 1989. HISTORY Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, it was renamed Jaguar Cars after World War II because of the unfavorable connotations of the initials, SS. The company is now owned by the Ford Motor Company. Jaguar is known for its luxury saloons and sports cars, market segments it has been in since the 1930s. The name is pronounced /ˈdʒægjuːə/ in the UK, /ˈdʒægˌwɑɹ/ in the USA. Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (the Austin-Morris combine) to form British Motor Holdings in 1966. After merger with Leyland and Rover, the resultant company then became British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968. Financial difficulties and the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalisation in 1975 and it became British Leyland Ltd known just as BL. In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market - one of the Thatcher government's many privatizations. It was then taken over by Ford in 1989-1990. In 1999 it was made part of Ford's new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin and Volvo Cars. Land Rover was added to the group in 2001 following its purchase from BMW. The company was originally located in Blackpool but relocated to Coventry to be at the heart of the British motor industry. Today, Jaguars are assembled at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham and Halewood in Liverpool. The historic Browns Lane plant closed in 2005 leaving aluminium vehicle production at Castle Bromwich and steel at Halewood. Jaguar owns the Daimler car company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), which it bought in 1960 from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). Since the late 1960s, Daimler has been little more than a brand name for Jaguar's most luxurious saloons. HISTORICAL MODELS Although the post World War Two market had seen Mark IV and Mark V sales as satisfactory, their appearance was essentially unchanged from pre-War models. Introducing the large Mark VII Saloon in 1951, a car especially conceived for the American Market, Jaguar soon found itself overwhelmed with orders. The Mark VII and its successors gathered rave reviews from magazines such as Road and Track and Motor. In 1956 a Jaguar Mark VII won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally. The 1955 Mark I was the first monocoque (unibody) car from Jaguar. In 1959, the car was improved with a larger engine and wider windows and became the Mark II, one of the most recognizable Jaguar models ever produced. Of the more recent saloons, the most significant is the XJ (1968-present), still the definitive Jaguar saloon car for many. Since 1968 the Series I XJ has seen major changes in 1973 (to Series II), 1979 (Series III), 1986 [Europe] / 1987 [United States] (XJ40), 1995 (X300), 1997 (to the V-8 powered X308), 2003 (the present model, X350). The most luxurious XJ models carry either the Vanden Plas or Daimler nameplates. MOST IMPORTANT MODELS Sport cars: SS100 (1935-1941) XK120 (1948-1954) XK140 (1954-1957) XK150 (1957-1960) Jaguar E-type (XKE) (1961-1975) XJ-S/XJS (1975-1996) XK8 (1996-2005) [[Jaguar new XK8 [codename X150] (2006 to present) Large Saloons Mark IV (1945-1949) Mark V (1949-1951) Mark VII(M) (1951-1957) Mark VIII (1957-1959) Mark IX (1958-1961) Mark X (1961-1966) Small Saloons Mark 1 (1955-1959) Mark 2 (1959-1966) Jaguar has designed in-house four generations of engines. Historical engines: Jaguar XK6 engine - inline-6 Jaguar V12 engine - V12 Jaguar AJ6 engine - inline-6 Current engines: Jaguar AJ-V8 engine - V8 Jaguar AJ-V6 engine - V6 CURRENT MODELS The current Jaguar lineup includes the following models: X-Type - mid-size saloon S-Type - luxury saloon XJ6/XJ8/XJR - large saloon XK8/XKR - sports car/convertible SPORTS CAR RACING The company has had major success in sports car racing, particularly in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Victories came in 1951 and 1953 with the C-Type, then in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the D-Type. The famous race was then left for many years, until in the mid-1980s Tom Walkinshaw's TWR team started designing and preparing Jaguar V12-engined sports prototypes for European sports car races. The team started winning regularly from 1987, and with increased factory backing the team won Le Mans in 1988 and 1990. Jaguar Sport: Jaguar C-Type (1951-1953) Jaguar D-Type (1954-1957) Jaguar Lightweight E-Type XJ220 (1988) XJR-15 (1990) JAGUARS IN FICTION AND THE MEDIA The Jaguar Mark 2 saloon gained a reputation as a popular getaway car among the British criminal fraternity in the 1960s. As a result, Mark IIs have featured in many British crime films, including Robbery, Get Carter and Mona Lisa. However, the best known fictional Mark II is probably the car driven by Inspector Morse in the British television series of the same name. The character, Arthur Daley, in the British television series Minder was generally to be seen driving a Jaguar XJ6, as was Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) in the 1985-89 CBS TV series The Equalizer. The latter was a black 1985 XJ6 with the license plate "5809-AUG". British Prime-Minister Tony Blair is driven in a bottle-green Jaguar XJ8 to support British nationalism. His predecessor, John Major, used a modified XJ6. Jaguar E-types are featured in the films Robbery, The Odessa File, Brannigan, Silver Streak, 52 Pick-Up, Car Trouble and About Adam. An E-Type also replaced Emma Peel's usual Lotus Elan for the 1998 film of The Avengers. Harold, of Harold and Maude, had a Jaguar E-Type hearse. In the 1968 movie Danger: Diabolik, Diabolik drove a black Jaguar E-Type. His love interest, Eva, drove a white one. Austin Powers drove a Union Jack-decorated Jaguar E-Type, calling it a Shaguar. Mike Gambit in The New Avengers and Simon Templar in Return of the Saint, both had a Jaguar XJ-S as their usual transport. The made-for-cable 1989 film The Heist (shown on HBO) featured two dark green Jaguar XJS coupes - they were used during a bait and switch scene where contraband was hidden in the trunk panel. Sting drove a Jaguar in the music video for his song 'Desert Rose', because of this, the song has been used in past Jaguar commercials. While Jaguar does not use the song anymore, the song is still associated with Jaguar. The Jet Li movie Danny the Dog/Unleashed featured a Series 3 XJ.The nickname for a Jaguar "Jag"was mentioned in many songs such as Snoop Dogg's Riders On The Storm,Usher's Yeah and Lil' Flip's Rollin On 20's. 1950s Jaguar XK120s were used in the films The Green Man and Too Many Crooks, while XK150s were featured prominently in Play Misty for Me, To the Devil...a Daughter and Blue Ice. The 2002 film Die Another Day of the James Bond series of movies featured a Jaguar XKR. The car was driven by the character Zao in some scenes of the movie, including a chase/battle against Bond's Aston Martin.Robbie Williams drives an XKR in Los Angeles where he lives.Jennifer Lopez drives a $100,000 Jaguar XK8

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