Jaguar is probably the best known automotive company from Britain. Jaguar Cars is a subsidiary of Jaguar Land Rover and is based in Coventry, England. Jaguar is known for its luxury cars and is recognised by the British Royal Family for its excellence in building cars.
Jaguar started its journey as the Swallow Sidecar Company. The company, founded by William Walmsley and William Lyons, started out by producing motorcycle sidecars. With their success in building sidecars, William Lyons bought out William Walmsley’s share of the company and established the S.S. Cars Limited and entered the automotive manufacturing industry in 1934.
In the same year, S.S. Cars Limited acquired the Swallow Coachbuilding Company, another British automotive company which was also owned by both Walmsley and Lyons. With the acquisition came the rights to producing the SS 1 which at the time was being manufactured by Swallow. Thus, the SS 1 became the first car from the company that would become Jaguar.
The SS 1, the First Jaguar
The SS 1 started out as a four-door fixed head coupe. It had a six cylinder 2.0-liter engine that produces 48bhp and had a top speed of 75mph. It had a front engine rear wheel drive layout (FR). The SS 1 was known for its beautiful styling but was often criticised for its lack of power. Both engine and the chassis of the SS 1 were supplied by Standard Motor Company. William Lyons oversaw the design and building of the car body that went into the SS 1.
The SS 1 also came in other variants such as the two-door sports saloon, tourer, airline coupe and drophead coupe. The car length was 15 ½ feet and 5 ½ feet wide and weighed in at 1034kgs. The SS 1 became successful because of its relatively low cost and stylish body.
After the SS 1, the company would introduce the SS Jaguar as a 2.5-liter saloon with the SS90 and SS100 as sports variants.
Jaguar after the World War
After World War II, the SS name was dropped in a vote by the S.S. Cars shareholders and agreed to change the name to Jaguar Cars. One reason behind this would be because the company did not want to be associated with the name “SS” particularly the Nazi group. The name Jaguar was chosen because it proved distinctive and recognisable.
After a series of mergers and acquisitions, Jaguar, along with Land Rover, which at the end of 2007 were both subsidiaries of the Ford Motor Company, were sold to its current owners which is Tata Motors of India. Along the way, Jaguar became successful with its line of luxury saloons and sports cars. They are also involved in motorsports such as Formula One and Formula E.
Through the years, Jaguar has maintained its reputation as an automotive builder that focuses on stylish body work and it all started with the SS 1.
Leave a reply