HISTORY OF JAGUAR

JAGUAR HISTORY

'''Jaguar Cars''' is a British based subsidiary of the American Ford Motor Company famous for 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, and Acura.

History

Founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company by William Lyons, 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 in the UK, 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 - with the rest as the Austin Rover group. Then it was taken over by Ford in 1989-1990. In 1999 it was made part of Ford's new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and Lincoln. Land Rover was added to the group in 2001 following its purchase from BMW.

The company was originally located in Blackpool but re-located 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 then Daimler has been little more than a brand name for Jaguar's most luxurious saloons.

Historical Models

Although the post WW II 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 Sedan in 1951, a car especially conceived for the American Market, Jaguar cars soon found itself overwhelmed with orders. The Mark VII and its successors gathered rave review after rave review 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 car for many. Since 1968 the Series I XJ has seen major changes in 1973 (to Series II), 1979 (to 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

* SS100 (1935-1941) * XK120 (1948-1954) * XK140 (1954-1957) * XK150 (1957-1960) * XKE (E-Type) (1961-1975) * XJ-S/XJS (1975-1996) * XK8 (1996-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

* X-Type - mid-size saloon * S-Type - luxury saloon * XJ6/XJ8/XJR - full-size saloon * XK8/XKR - sports car/convertible

Sports car racing

* 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 character, Arthur Daley, in the British television series ''Minder'' was generally to be seen driving a Jaguar XJ6.

Inspector Morse, in the British television series of that name, drove a Jaguar Mark 2.

Harold, of ''Harold and Maude'', had a Jaguar E-Type hearse.

A silver Jaguar E-type is featured in the film 52 Pick-Up.

Austin Powers drove a Jaguar E-Type, calling it a Shaguar.

In the 1968 movie "Danger: Diabolik", Diabolik drove a black Jaguar E-Type. His love interest, Eva, drove a white one.

The made-for-cable 1989 film The Heist (shown on HBO) featured two dark green Jaguar XJS coupes - it was 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 lots of past Jaguar commercials. While Jaguar doesn't use the song anymore, the song is still associated with Jaguar.

Source: Wikipedia

	Model	Year	KM's	Location	Price
	jaguar mark 2 3.4 saloon	1960	0	New South Wales, Australia	POA
	jaguar e-type 3.8	1962	94,244	Victoria, Australia	$126,950 AUD
	jaguar mark ii 3.8	1963	40,662	Queensland, Australia	$28,000 AUD
	jaguar e-type 4.2	1969	0	Victoria, Australia	$39,950 AUD
	jaguar e type ser 11 roadster	1969	0	Victoria, Australia	$80,000 AUD