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Jaguar
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Owned by Ford
Sub-brand Daimler
Introduction It took Ford nearly a decade to rebuild the declining prestige marque. 5 years ago, Jaguar was still producing a XJ6 and a dated XJ-S. Build quality and reliability were far below the standards of German competitors, let alone Lexus. As a result, resale price remained low thus also affect new car sales.  

Today, build quality and resale price have been vastly improved. The XJ-S was succeeded by the much better XK8, then came a second saloon model, S-Type. The traditional classical styling has been brought back by Jeff Lawson, further giving the British luxurious car maker a distinctive feature to fight against the German. Within a few years, annual production raised from 35,000 cars to an expected 90,000 cars of 1999. Another 200,000 cars will be added in 2001 when a baby Jaguar is launched, then followed by a small roadster. In other words, Jaguar s volume will soon be 10-folded! 

The ambitious growth is managed by Ford s PAG (Premier Automotive Group) headed by ex-BMW man Wolfgang Reitzle. PAG also consists of Aston Martin, Lincoln and Volvo. Undoubtedly, Jaguar will share more and more parts and technology with Ford and members of PAG - the S-Type is already based on Lincoln LS s platform, the baby Jaguar will be derived from the next Mondeo. 

Strangely, Jaguar owns the brand name "Daimler" like the three-pointed star. Gottlieb Daimler, the inventor of motor car, set up his UK subsidiary in 1896 but then the company was sold. In 1960, Jaguar bought the Daimler factory in Conventry to cope with sales expansion. Since then the name was used to badge the highest specified XJ6 but actually the brand image is not very clear.
Sales figure 1998 sales : 50,220 cars, 15% improvement over 1997.
Location Headquarters and R&D : Browns Lane, Conventry 
Plants : Castle Bromwich (S-Type), Browns Lane (XJ and XK).
Brief History Like Porsche and Ferrari, Jaguar s success was driven by one man, William Lyons. The young Lyons emerged as a "side car" maker in the 20 s. "Side car" is the additional passenger compartment attached to the side of motorcycle. Of course, that couldn t fulfil Lyons  ambition. Therefore he started building his own car based on the mass production Austin Seven or Morris but with his own chassis and body. In 1935, the stylish sports car SS100 was launched and amazed the world by its beauty and bargain price.  

However, the SS was more a coach-builder s car because it had engine, running gear and various parts underneath the body supplied by the mass production market. Therefore, his engineer William Heynes designed the XK engine which became the driving force of Jaguar s cars for some 40 years. The 3.4-litre straight 6 employed double overhead camshaft and was capable of pumping out 160hp. It was installed to the new XK120 sports car, helping it to achieve 126mph top speed. In 1948, that was the fastest production car. 
The XK120 stunned the world by its high performance out of a low price. Its good look, styled by Lyons himself, also helped attracting sales from all over the world. That fulfilled the post-war British government s policy to concentrate on export. Some 12,000 units were sold until 1954, then it was upgraded to XK140 and then XK150. 

Entered the 50 s, Jaguar also started producing saloon with the launch of Mk VII. Despite of powering by the same XK engine, the sales of big saloons were not very successful. Therefore Lyons tried a smaller saloon, then improved to Mk II. The Mk II s smaller body accompaned with the powerful XK engine and classical styling won the love from car enthusiasts. Production totalled 123,000 cars and became the best selling Jaguar until XJ6. It also won touring car races.  

The XK150 was succeeded by E-type in 1961. This beautiful sports car was once recorded a top speed of 150mph and was (again) the fastest production sports car then. At least 70,000 E-types left the factory until 1975, including the version with a marvellous V12 designed by Walter Hassen. 

Lyons was also interested in motor racing, especially is endurance races such as Le Mans. His own team won a total of 5 Le Mans - 2 by C-type (1951, 53), 3 by D-type (1955, 56, 57). After a rest of 2 decades, the partnership with TWR won another 2 Le Mans - XJR-9LM (1988), XJR-12 (1989) - and 2 World Sports Car Championships - XJR-8 (1987) and XJR-14 (1991). 

In the production side, XJ6 arrived in 1968 and its evolution still serves the company today. V12 was introduced into the saloon in 1972, the car named XJ12. During the 70 s the company s reputation had been declining until the revival in the mid-90 s. The retirement of Sir William Lyons in 72 was probably one of the reasons. (He passed away in 1985) Jaguar was losing money and once absorbed by British Leyland. It resumed independence in 1984 but the new cars had already became less attractive than the Lyons  era. The XJ-S of 1975 was a design disaster. The build quality and production efficiency were not improved.  

Ford bought 15% stocks from Jaguar in 1989 and made a complete take over next year. A drastic cost reduction scheme cut the workforce by a third. At the same time, there were signs of revival as the partnership with Tom Walkinshaw in motor sport extended to road cars - the joint venture Jaguar Sport created two supercars, XJR-15 and XJ220.  

In 1993, A new production line opened at Browns Lane and signalled the improvement of build quality. Then came the first new engine for 2 decades - the advanced AJ-V8, although it is produced in Ford s engine plant. The launch of S-Type in 1998 should lift Jaguar to a position challenging BMW and Mercedes.