Jaguar Cars Limited is a British based luxury car manufacturer, originally with headquarters in Browns Lane, Coventry, England but now at Whitley, Coventry. It was founded as SS Cars Ltd in 1922 and changed its name to Jaguar in 1945. The company has been owned by Ford since 1989.
In the past 10 years, Jaguar cars have been shown to be one of the 3 least reliable brands.[1]
Jaguar’s main competitors include Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Lexus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
The name is pronounced /ˈdʒægjuːə/ “jag you uh” in the UK, //ˈdʒægˌwɑɹ// “jag wahr” in the USA. The colloquial “Jag” is used in both countries.
Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, the Jaguar name first appeared on a 2.5 litre saloon in 1935. This name was given to the entire company in 1935.
The distinctive Jaguar badge
Jaguar made its name in the 1950s with a series of elegantly-styled sports cars and luxury saloons. The company bought the Daimler car company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), in 1960 from Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). From the late 1960s, Daimler was used as a brand name for Jaguar’s most luxurious saloons.
Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC), the Austin-Morris combine, to form British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966. After merging with Leyland and Rover, the resultant company then became 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 (BL).
In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market - one of the Thatcher government’s many privatisations. It took the Vanden Plas name with it. The Ford Motor Company made an offer to purchase the company in September 1989 which was accepted at an Extraordinary General Meeting in January 1990 and Jaguar was removed from the London Stock Exchange listings on 28 February 1990.[2] In 1999 it became part of Ford’s new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and, from 2001, Land Rover. Recent reports speculate Ford might sell Jaguar in order to infuse much needed capital into its own operations. [1]. Since Ford purchased Jaguar in 1989 it has yet to earn a profit for the Dearborn-based automaker.
Jaguar cars gained something of a reputation for unreliability during the 1970s and 1980s, however this has improved considerably in the last 20 years. Since the company has been under the Ford Motor Company umbrella, reliability and build has improved dramatically, even surpassing that of Audi and Mercedes-Benz, with the company coming 7th (out of 30) in the J. D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey (the ‘242-million mile road test’), and the S-TYPE model coming 9th out of 105 cars in the same survey. However, nowhere has the turnaround in the quality of the cars been more obvious than in the 2003 Top Gear Survey, where the XJ8 (X308) model came first.
The company was originally located in Blackpool but moved to Coventry in 1928 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 as a vehicle assembly plant in 2005 leaving the XJ, XK and S-Type production at Castle Bromwich and the X-Type at Halewood.
Since Land Rover’s 2002 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 and production facilities. In September 2006 Ford also bought the rights to the Rover name and it is now part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group.
Jaguar Cars holds Royal Warrants from both HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Charles.
Source: Wikipedia
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