Jaguar 3.5 Litres

Jaguar Cars Ltd., better known simply as Jaguar, is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors Ltd. and is operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business.

Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before evolving into passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War II due to the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials. Following a merger with the British Motor Corporation in 1968, subsequently subsumed by Leyland, which itself was later nationalised as British Leyland, Jaguar was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Ford in 1989. Jaguar also holds Royal Warrants from HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Charles.
Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, Sir William Lyons, William Walmsley, the SS Jaguar name first appeared on a 2.5 litre saloon in 1935, sports models of which were the SS 90 and SS 100.

The Jaguar name was given to the entire company in 1945 when the "SS" name was dropped due to its association with Germany's SS military organisation much publicised and in Britain greatly reviled during and following World War II. Cash was short after the war and Jaguar sold to Rubery Owen the plant and premises of Motor Panels, a pressed steel body manufacturing company which had been acquired in the late 1930s when growth prospects had seemed more secure. Nevertheless, Jaguar achieved relative commercial success with their early post war models: times were also tough for other Coventry based auto-makers and the company was able to buy from John Black's Standard Motor Company the plant on which Standard had built the six cylinder engines which, hitherto, they had been supplying to Jaguar.

Jaguar made its name by producing a series of extremely eye-catching sports cars, in the XK 120 of 1949, developed into XK 140 and XK 150, and the E Type (or XKE in the US) of 1961. These were all successful and embodied Lyons' mantra of 'value for money'. They were also highly successful on the international stage of motorsport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company's products.

Jaguar's sales slogan for years was "Grace, Space, Pace": a mantra epitomised by the record sales achieved by the MK VII, IX, Mks I and II saloons and later the XJ6.

The core of Bill Lyon's post World War II success was the Twin Cam Straight Six Cylinder Engine—a design conceived pre-war and realised while design staff at the Coventry plant were dividing their time between fire-watching (Coventry being a main industrial centre was a prime target for the Luftwaffe) and designing the new power plant.

To place this in focus, pre-war, a benchmark for racing and competition engines was the "Double Knocker", or Twin Cam engine: Jag's new engine was a hemispherical cross-flow cylinder head with valves inclined originally at 60 Degrees (Inlet) 45 Degrees (Exhaust) and later standardised to 90 Degrees for both Inlet and Exhaust.

As octane ratings of fuel were relatively low from 1948 onwards, three different pistons configurations were offered: Domed (High Octane) Flat (Medium Octane) and Dished (Low Octane).

The main designer, William "Bill" Heynes, ably assisted by Walter "Wally" Hassan was determined to design the Twin OHC unit. Bill Lyons agreed over misgivings from Hassan. The sheer concept of applying what had hitherto been considered a racing or low-volume and cantankerous engine, needing constant fettling into reasonable volume production everyday saloon cars was brave.

And simultaneously, brilliantly inspired.

And the subsequent engine was the mainstay powerplant of Jaguar, used in the revolutionary XK 120, Mk VII Saloon, Mk I and II Saloons and XK 140 and I50 as well as the stunning E Type, itself a development from the race winning and Le Mans conquering C and D Type Sports Racing cars.

(The E Type was the production version of the short-lived XKSS: a road-legal version of the famed D Type Sports Racing car and built mainly to use up redundant D Type Chassis. Production of the XKSS was cut short when a disastrous fire decimated essential jigs and tooling.)

Few engines have demonstrated such ubiquity and longevity: the Twin OHC "XK Engine", as it came to be known, being used in the new Jaguar XJ6 saloon in 1969 (Which use continued right up until 1992!)and additionally employed as the power plant (In this case typed the J60) in such diverse vehicles as the Scorpion tanks and armoured personnel carriers (Scimitar, Fox Milan reconnaissance and Fox Scout armoured vehicles, the Ferret and the four wheel drive all-terrain lorry, the Stonefield).

Properly maintained (Few were) the standard production XK Engine would happily achieve 200,000 miles of useful life.

Two of the proudest moments in Jaguar's long history in motor sport involved winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951 and again in 1953. The 1955 victory was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic events that occurred. Later in the hands of the Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse (who went down in legendary status for twice pulling off a David v Goliath effort in the famed car-killing race) two more wins were added in 1956/57.

However it was always Lyons intention to build the business by producing world-class sporting saloon (sedan) cars in larger numbers possible than the sports cars. They enjoyed some degree of success in this aim with the early 3 & 3½ litre cars, the Mark 7/8/9, the compact saloons Mark I and 2, and XJ6 and XJ12. Again all were deemed to be very good value for money with their comfortable ride, good handling, high performance and great style.

In order to place Lyon's achievements into some relative perspective, it must be remembered that post-war Britain was riven with raw material shortages (All raw materials were allocated by the Ministry of Supply): furthermore, metallurgy was in an early stage, all of which makes Sir William Lyon's success all the more laudable.

Jaguar cars today are designed in Jaguar/Land Rover's engineering centres at the Whitley plant in Coventry and at Gaydon in Warwickshire, and are manufactured in two of Jaguar/Land Rover's plants; Castle Bromwich assembly plant in Birmingham and Halewood Body & Assembly near Liverpool.
Jaguar, pronounced /ˈdʒæɡjuːər/ JAG-ew-ər (U.K.) or pronounced /ˈdʒæɡwɑr/ JAG-wahr (U.S.), made its name in the 1950s with a series of elegantly styled sports cars and luxury saloons. In 1951 the company leased what would quickly become its principal plant from the Daimler Motor Company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), and in 1960 purchased Daimler from its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). From the late 1960s, Daimler was used as a brand name for Jaguar's most luxurious saloons.

British Leyland

Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC), the Austin-Morris combine, to form British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966. After merging with Leyland, which had already taken over Rover and Standard Triumph, the resultant company then became the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968. Financial difficulties and the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalisation in 1975 and the company became British Leyland, Ltd. (later simply BL plc).
In the 1970s the Jaguar and Daimler marques formed part of BL's specialist car division or Jaguar Rover Triumph Ltd until a restructure in the early 1980s saw most of the BL volume car manufacturing side becoming the Austin Rover Group within which Jaguar was not included. In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market — one of the Thatcher government's many privatisations.

Ford Motor Company era
The Ford Motor Company made offers to the US and UK Jaguar shareholders to buy their shares in November 1989; Jaguar's listing on the London Stock Exchange was removed on 28 February 1990. In 1999 it became part of Ford's new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and, from 2000, Land Rover. Aston Martin was subsequently sold off in 2007. Between Ford purchasing Jaguar in 1989 and selling it in 2008 it did not earn any profit for the Dearborn-based auto manufacturer.

Since Land Rover's May 2000 purchase by Ford, it has been closely associated with Jaguar. In many countries they share a common sales and distribution network (including shared dealerships), and some models now share components, although the only shared production facility is Halewood, for the X-Type and the Freelander 2. However operationally the two companies were effectively integrated under a common management structure within Ford's PAG.

On 11 June 2007, Ford announced that it planned to sell Jaguar, along with Land Rover and retained the services of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to advise it on the deal. The sale was initially expected to be announced by September 2007, but was delayed until March 2008. Private equity firms such as Alchemy Partners of the UK, TPG Capital, Ripplewood Holdings (which hired former Ford Europe executive Sir Nick Scheele to head its bid), Cerberus Capital Management and One Equity Partners (owned by JP Morgan Chase and managed by former Ford executive Jacques Nasser) of the US, Tata Motors of India and a consortium comprising Mahindra and Mahindra (an auto manufacturer from India) and Apollo Management all initially expressed interest in purchasing the marques from the Ford Motor Company.

Before the sale was announced, Anthony Bamford, chairman of British excavator manufacturer JCB had expressed interest in purchasing the company in August 2006, but backed out when told the sale would also involve Land Rover, which he did not wish to buy. On Christmas Eve of 2007, Mahindra and Mahindra backed out of the race for both brands, citing complexities in the deal.

Modern era

On 1 January 2008, Ford made a formal announcement which declared Tata as the preferred bidder. Tata Motors also received endorsements from the Transport And General Worker's Union (TGWU)-Amicus combine as well as from Ford. According to the rules of the auction process, this announcement would not automatically disqualify any other potential suitor. However, Ford (as well as representatives of Unite) would now be able to enter into more focused and detailed discussions with Tata to iron out issues ranging from labour concerns (job security and pensions), technology (IT systems and engine production) and intellectual property, as well as the final sale price. Ford would also open its books for a more comprehensive due diligence by Tata. On 18 March 2008, Reuters reported that American bankers Citigroup and JP Morgan shall be underwriting a loan of USD 3 billion in order to finance the deal.

On 26 March 2008, Ford announced that it had agreed to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors of India, and that the sale was expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2008. Included in the deal were the rights to three other British brands, Jaguar's own Daimler, as well as two dormant brands Lanchester and Rover. On 2 June 2008, the sale to Tata was completed at a cost of £1.7 billion.

Assembly plant

The Swallow Sidecar company (SSC) was originally located in Blackpool but moved to Holbrook Lane, Coventry in 1928 when demand for the Austin Swallow became too great for the factory's capacity. In 1951, having outgrown the original Coventry site they moved again to Browns Lane which had been a wartime "shadow factory" run by the Daimler Motor Company. Today, Jaguars are assembled at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham and Halewood in Liverpool. The historic Browns Lane plant ceased trim and final operations in 2005, the X350 XJ having already moved to Castle Bromwich two years prior, leaving the XK and S-Type production to Castle Bromwich and the X-Type at Halewood, alongside the new Land Rover Freelander 2, from 2007. A reduced Browns Lane site still operates today producing veneers for Jaguar Land Rover and others, as well as some engineering facilities.