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by: HarveyWilliams
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The new Jaguar XF was voted by What Car magazine, car of the year 2008 and quite deservedly so. Contract hire and leasing companies are seeing a strong demand for the vehicle. It seems strange that a vehicle so beautiful and technologically advanced should have its beginnings with a motorcycle sidecar manufacturer; during 1922 two keen motorcyclists William Lyons and William Walmsley formed the Swallow Sidecar Company and stared manufacturing aluminium sidecars. Of the two William Lyons was the driving force behind the company.

During this period and right through to the 1960's motorcycle sidecars were very popular; many people could not afford to buy a car so a motorcycle was usually the answer. However as motorcycle owners got married and had children they wanted to be able to go out on day trips as a family, so they would purchase and permanently attach a sidecar to their motorcycle. The sidecar would accommodate their wife and children, or their wife would ride pillion and the children would sit, reasonably well protected from the elements, in the sidecar. Sidecars were big business and the Swallow Sidecar Company had some of the most attractive designs on the market.

By the late 1920's the company had ventured into cars and built the body for the Austin Seven, a fairly basic and inexpensive car that proved extremely popular. They changed the name of the company to The Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company and moved from Blackpool where they had been based, to bigger premises in Coventry. Coventry was at the time the centre of the British motor industry. Their work became recognized and respected throughout the industry and they went on to build the bodies for many different manufacturers.

The company was ambitious and before long had launched a car of their own, the impressive SS. It proved to be a real crowd puller when it appeared at the London Motor Show in 1931. Although it only cost 310 to buy, it gave the impression of being far more expensive; it was quite long and low to the ground and its wire wheels gave it a distinctly sporty look.

The SS90 was introduced during the mid 30's; its cost was under 400, which was very good value for money and the design was very sporty. Next came the SS100, it had twin carburettors and 2,633 cc engine. The car was fast, however an even faster version went on show at the Motor Show in 1938, this time with a 3,845 cc engine. Its production was interrupted by the start of the Second World War.

During the Second World War the company's manufacturing was switched to military production, as were the car manufacturers in Germany. Just as the allied forces heavily targeted the German motor manufacturer's factories during their bombing raids, Coventry became one of the most heavily bombed cities in Britain.

In 1948 the company's name changed to Jaguar cars. Clearly the SS name had to be dropped, considering the possible association with the horrific SS in Nazi Germany. The Jaguar XK 120 was launched in the same year. It is said that it was designed during those war years, at night, whilst the designers, were on fire watch; it was standard procedure during the war to have personnel on fire watch duty, to ensure that the factory was still going to be there in the morning.

The XK 120 was unveiled at the 1948 Motor Show; it was called 120 because of the car's top speed, which was very fast in 1948. There was nothing that equalled its road holding and speed. It was its lines however that made it so outstanding, even 60 years on there are few people who would not find the car beautiful. It was a soft-top sport car, it had wire wheels and sometimes the bonnet had a leather strap. Girls dreamed of sitting in the passenger seat with the wind blowing through their hair, perhaps not surprisingly men rather liked the idea of being in the driving seat. It's image later became a little tarnished when it was rather unfairly seen as a cad's car; depicted being driven by a Terry Thomas type character, complete with cigarette holder.

The 1950's were a wonderful time for Jaguar; the Mark V11 was launched, a large impressive saloon that proved very successful in motor racing. Mike Hawthorn Britain's first Formula One world champion and Stirling Moss both raced in it. In 1956 the Mark V11 won the Monte Carlo rally. The XK140 was introduced during 1954; it had rack and pinion steering. It also had other new features including a seat at the rear that could accommodate small children. Although small children were probably far from the mind of the typical purchaser of the XK140, thinking perhaps more about speeding along the coast road of the Cote d'Azur. This was followed by the XK150, with disc brakes, and also Mark1, the Mark 11, the Mark V11 and the Mark 1X.

In the late 50's and early 60'successful businessmen drove the Mark 11 but strangely it also became the mark of the successful villain. It was also targeted by car thieves, once stolen they would be used as getaway cars for Jewellery smash and grab and bank robberies. Police then bought the Mark 11 and to give themselves an edge, modified the engines. In a Florida auction in 2008 a Mark 11 was sold for $75,900.

In 1961 Jaguar launched the Mark X, it was a very large car much more suitable for the American market than Britain. It was long and wide and did just seventeen miles per gallon, which was not to much of a problem in the US where they were used to gas guzzling cars but of course they were paying much less for their fuel. In the UK it was too large and expensive to run for most .The car became know in some circles as the poor man's Rolls Royce. The revolutionary E Type was launched in the same year. It was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, the motoring press and public couldn't believe their eyes; it was a most extraordinary looking car, long, low and sleek, with a bonnet that seemed to go on for ever. To describe the car as eye catching would be an understatement; when it was first on the road, it stopped traffic and pedestrians in their tracks. Jaguar must have been very proud of their achievement.

The XJ6 was launched in 1968 and it proved extremely popular between 1968 and 1973 almost 100,000 came off the production line. The series two was to follow and various versions of this model continued through to the present day. During 1972 William Lyons retired from Jaguar.

The XJS sports car came out in 1975 and the model ran until 1996. It was produced in both a fixed head and convertible model. The car received excellent reviews from the motoring press but the design seemed to lack some of the previous Jaguar style. Twelve years later in 1997 came the XK8 a beautifully designed sports car reminiscent of the stylish E Type launched some thirty-six years earlier.

In 1966 Sir William Lyons as he had now become was in negotiation with BMC who were interested in purchasing Jaguar. Leyland were also interested in acquiring Jaguar, this put Lyons in a strong negotiating position. BMC won the day, as did Sir William, as he got what he wanted; which was for Jaguar to be autonomous and to have a seat on the board of the company that had now become BMH.

In 1968 when Jaguar became a division of British Leyland, Sir William continued to fight Jaguar's corner but the company was in chaos. Jaguar's workforce were demoralised further in 1972 when Sir William retired. Inevitably build quality suffered. British Leyland Exports became the new name for the company that had previously been Jaguar Cars ltd and morale plunged even further. After British Leyland's bankruptcy in 1975 the Labour government nationalised the company.

Jaguar was then run by Bob Knight, very much a Jaguar man who was determined to reverse Jaguar's poor reputation. There was no doubt that the employees' low morale was causing the quality to suffer but Knight felt that outside suppliers were taking advantage of the situation and supplying inferior components. Jaguar were becoming know as a car to steer clear of, unless you had very deep pockets; there were no three year warranties in those days.

John Egan replaced Bob Knight in 1980 with the aim to carry on the struggle of getting Jaguar back to profitability. Now know as BL, it's boss Michael Edwards realized that Jaguar needed more independence, which he gave to Egan. When Egan started his first day the workforce were out on strike. He could not really offer them anything concrete because he hadn't had the chance to access the situation. Instead he asked them to have faith in him and work re-started. In 1981 sales only just managed to go over 13,000 cars.

Bob Knight first identified the problem of inferior components being supplied to Jaguar; Egan also quickly realized that Jaguar's reputation was being damaged in part by their suppliers. When he made it conditional that the suppliers would pay for the cost of warranty work when their parts failed, the problem was soon solved. This was a big step forward in restoring Jaguar's reputation

John Egan quickly spotted the problem first identified by Bob Knight; that poor quality components were being supplied by outside companies. Egan very cleverly made it a condition of supplying Jaguar with components, that the third party would be responsible to Jaguar, for the warranty costs if their parts failed. This focused the minds of the suppliers and quality quickly improved.

In 1982 the company was re-named Jaguar Cars ltd and in 1984 was privatised by the Thatcher government, Jaguar Plc was formed. John Egan remained with the company as chief executive. Jaguar's future was once again secure. In 1989 Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion, it has been estimated by some observers, that since then it put between $1billion and $1.5 billion a year into the company, more conservative estimates are that Ford invested over the years, a further $10 billion into Jaguar and Land Rover, which it had also bought.

Whilst Land Rover did make some profits, Ford never really made money from Jaguar, in spite of the substantial sums it invested into the company. The ill-fated X Type was launched in 2001, designed to rival the 3 Series BMW but it was a break from the traditional Jaguar. With its Ford Mondeo components, it did little for Jaguar's bottom line or reputation.

Ford had problems of its own and needed to concentrate on their own core business, Jaguar was eventually put up for sale along with Land Rover. Ford had sold most of its stake in Aston Martin in 2007 and in March 2008 both Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata the Indian motor manufacturer for $2.3 billion. It must have been a bitter pill for Ford to swallow, made even more bitter, by having to find a further $600 million to make up the shortfall in the two companies' pension funds. Furthermore Ford will miss out on the success of the new XF model.

Some were dismayed to learn that Jaguar had fallen into foreign hands but wasn't it already in foreign hands? More important is perhaps that Jaguar now has a long term future. From past experience it seems clear that to succeed Jaguar needs to be left alone and Tata have made it very clear that they do not plan to interfere with the day to day running of Jaguar.

A poll was carried out in Germany in 2006, which quite surprisingly revealed that the majority of those polled considered Jaguar a better car than Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Jaguar has always been very strongly favoured by the American market too. The Jaguar XF is proving extremely popular and contract hire and leasing companies are receiving healthy orders for the car. And all this started from motorcycle sidecars some 86 years ago.

About the Author

For more information about contract hire, lease purchase, finance lease or vehicle hire purchase in the UK please contact Bowater Price plc 01494 536 536.

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