Welcome to Autoxchange - Jaguar: A Retrospective

Jaguar Cars was founded by motorcycle enthusiast Sir William Lyons in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company. The name was changed to SS Cars in 1934, and finally to Jaguar Cars in 1945.

Jaguar merged with British Motors in 1966, which would later become the nationalized British Leyland Group. In 1984, Jaguar was listed as a separate company on the stock exchange, and was later taken over by the Ford Motor Company in 1989.

Jaguar has an incredible history – their glory years being the 50s and 60s when they dominated racing and provided the world with some great technical innovations, many of which are relevant even today. They have struggled over the years, but still produce some very desirable cars indeed.

Ford's commitment, and their massive cash reserves, has almost certainly saved Jaguar from extinction – they may regret having to sell out. Tata Motors, on the other hand, should be pleased to have stepped in at a time when this legendary British marque appears to be returning to its roots of producing beautiful, stylish, fast and coveted cars once again.


	1	The Swallow Sidecar Company began, as the name suggests, by making motorcycle sidecars such as the one you see here.
2	3	In 1932, Lyons sourced a custom chassis and engines from the Standard Motor Company. He later changed his company's name to SS Cars. The SS1 was a predecessor to the post-war Jaguar MK IV.
The Swallow Sidecar Company first started working on cars in 1927. They started with the Austin 7, which was one of the most popular cars ever produced. The Austin 7 did for the UK what the Model T Ford did for the US. And unlike the Model T, the Austin 7 was one of the first cars to have its controls (such as the clutch, brake and accelerator pedals, as well as gear lever and handbrake) laid out in the way we accept as being normal today. The car you see here is an Austin Seven Swallow Saloon – the car that laid the foundation for the success of Jaguar Cars in the future.	3

Text: Dhruv Behl