History
Jaguar’s history began in 1922 when its founders, Sir William Lyons and William Walmsley created the Swallow Sidecar Company. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War 2 to avoid being referred to as the ‘SS Company’. British Motor Corporation bought Jaguar and renamed it British Motor Holdings in 1966. Two years later it merged again with Leyland Motor Corporation, was nationalised and became British Leyland in 1975. The Ford Motor Company acquired Jaguar Cars in 1989. In 2008 Tata Motors purchased both Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company.
Jaguar’s long history in auto racing has netted the company a number of crowning achievements: winning the Le Mans 24 hours race in 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1957. Jaguar’s reputation has always been defined by its production of world-class sports cars.
Major Events
During WW2 William Lyons switched his company’s focus from vehicle manufacturing to aircraft manufacturing and repair. After the war, Lyons and his engineering team completed the design and production of the XK engine, which went on to power all Jaguar vehicles until it was replaced in 1971 with the Jaguar V12 engine. Lyons was responsible for the design of every new Jaguar model introduced during his lifetime, except the C-type, D-type, E-type and XJ-S, which were designed by Malcolm Sayer. This is quite remarkable considering Lyons was not a trained draughtsman.
In 1966 Lyons merged Jaguar with the British Motor Corporation to form British Motor Holdings, and two years later British Leyland Motor Corporation Limited purchased BMH. In 1972, after years of struggling to maintain the integrity of his vision for Jaguar, Sir William Lyons retired. Retirement did not agree with him and he passed away in 1985. His wife passed away a year later. The British Motor Corporation was one of the largest British motorcar companies in 1952. They produced a number of car brands including Austin, Morris and Austin-Healey. It was reported in 2013 that Jaguar Land Rover had sold a whopping 425,000 vehicles in China, North America and Europe.
Tata Motors Limited is an Indian automobile manufacturer in 1945 and its headquarters are in Mumbai. It announced in 2010 that it plans to build Land Rover and Jaguar models in Mainland China. Chery Automobile and Jaguar Land Rover both own 50% of the Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Company Ltd., which was founded in 2012. This joint venture was formed to allow the production of Jaguar cars in China. Tata Motors has assembly plants in Lucknow, Jamshedpur, Argentina, Thailand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Their principal subsidiaries include Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Daewoo. Tata has entered into many joint ventures over the years with companies such as Daimler-Benz, Hitachi and Fiat. Tata Motors announced in 2013 that it would sell the first vehicle in the world to run on compressed air.
Going Forward
One of the most progressive technologies that Jaguar continues to focus on is the experience of driving one of their vehicles. Enhanced with an “ALIVE” technology, the vehicles are connected to an adaptive dynamics system that provides continuous monitoring of the vehicle at over 500 times per second to provide the most ALIVE feel possible.
Using this technology gives it the cat-like reflexes to grip in all-terrain environments, as well as assist when punching into a hard turn or having the lights adjust automatically. A continued focus on the aluminium engineered ALIVE technology remains a part of the ongoing strategy to create cars that feel more alive from the second you push a button to fire them up, to the moment that you power them down to sleep for the night. Jaguar continues to provide great steps in making the driving experience more personal as the future of their vehicles continue to surprise.
