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The car voted 2008 What Car, car of the year, was the Jaguar XF, an award that it certainly deserved. Leasing and contract hire brokers are experiencing strong interest the car. It is hard to imagine that its manufacturer Jaguar was originally a manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars called the Swallow Sidecar Company. It started when two motorcycle enthusiasts formed a new partnership in 1922, they were William Lyons and William Walmsley. In many partnerships there is one of the partners who really drives the company forward, in this case it was Lyons. Lyons and Walmsley certainly went into the market at the right time; motorcycle sidecars were extremely popular at the time and continued to be right through till the 60's. The reason being that the average worker could not afford a car, once they could motorcycles almost disappeared from Britain's roads, until their revival many years later. Sidecars proved so popular because they allowed the married man to take his family out on day trips. They could accommodate the children whilst the wife would ride pillion, crash helmets however were not a legal requirement at the time. The Swallow Sidecar Company captured market share by having very appealing designs. 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. It didn't take the company long before they were producing their own car the company launched the SS1 in 1931. It sold for 310 but actually looked a lot more expensive. It was low, had wire wheels and was quite long, the overall impression was of an expensive sports car. It was shown at the 1931 Motor Show and gathered large crowds. The Company name was changed again during 1933 to SS Cars and they launched the SS1 Tourer. William Walmsley resigned from the company. 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. As was the case with German Motor manufacturers the company's production was switched to the war effort. The German manufacturing plants were prime targets for the allied force's bombing raids and the Germans naturally tried to take out the UK manufacturing plants, Coventry became one of the most heavily targeted cities. 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. When the Mark 11 was launched in 1959 it was a prestige car favoured by successful businessmen but it also became the car driven by the successful criminal. It was also a favourite with car thieves; usually used a few days later as a getaway vehicle for jewellery and bank robberies. In order to keep up the police bought the same model and modified the engine. A Mark 11 Jaguar went under the hammer in an auction in Florida during 2008 for over $75,000 USD. The Mark X came out in 1961; it was originally aimed at the US market and was really a very big car for the UK. It was approaching 17 feet in length and very wide. The fuel consumption was 17 mpg, which was unacceptable to many British motorists. 1961 also saw the launch of the amazing E Type; first seen at the Geneva Motor Show it took the motoring world by storm. The design was far head of it's time. It was probably the most desired car that has ever been produced, those that could afford the 2000 price tag, bought one. 2000 was a lot of money in 1961, but still less expensive than its rivals it was a very proud moment for Jaguar In 1968 Jaguar launched the XJ6, between 68 and 73 they manufactured nearly 100,000. The series 11 was launched and in one form or another, the XJ continued in production for many years. It proved to be an ideal car for the owner to either drive him or herself or be chauffer driven, it was neither two large or too small for either option. William Lyons finally retired from the company in 1972. 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, who had been knighted for his services to industry, was negotiating with BMC. Both BMC and Leyland had shown a keen interest in buying Jaguar. The fact that there was serious competition to buy Jaguar, very much strengthened William Lyons' hand in his negotiations with BMC. The sale went through and Lyons got everything he wanted; Jaguar would remain autonomous and Sir William Lyons had a seat on the board of the newly formed 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 in the hands of Bob Knight a loyal Jaguar man, who was determined to turn the company around. Jaguar reputation for poor reliability was becoming well known and sales were dropping. Knight was convinced that a lot of the company's quality problems were as a result of outside suppliers supplying components that were of poor quality and subsequently failing, making Jaguar cars look bad in the eyes of the public. In 1980 Bob Knights role was taken over by John Egan. Michael Edwards, who was head of what had become BL, gave more independence to Jaguar and allowed Egan to carry on where Bob Knight had left off, in restoring the company to profitability. 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 Morale amongst the workforce improved when in 1982 the company was restored to Jaguar Cars ltd effectively giving it back its identity and in 1984 the Thatcher government privatised the company, it became Jaguar plc. After so much turmoil the company was safe again. Ford bought Jaguar in 1989 in a deal worth $2.5 billion. Over the following years it is estimated that they invested another $10,000 billion between the two companies they had acquired, Land Rover and Jaguar 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. Ford sold Aston Martin in 2007; they had problems and wanted to get back to basics. This was followed by the sale of land Rover and Jaguar in 2008. The sale price was $2.3 billion, less than Ford had paid for Jaguar some nine years earlier. However both companies had a shortfall in their pension schemes, this had to be made up by Ford at the cost of $600 million. Tata the Indian conglomerate was the purchaser. 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. There has been some comment that Jaguar, that represents everything that is British, has now fallen into foreign hands but Jaguar has been in foreign hands since 1989 and what is most important is that the company survives. It is very clear from the history of Jaguar, that it needs autonomy in order to succeed. Tata have made it clear that it does not intend to "meddle" with Jaguar and that it wants the Jaguar tradition to survive and prosper. 30,000 Germans were polled in 2006, this revealed that the majority of Germans preferred Jaguar to Mercedes, Audi and BMW. The new XF has been an enormous success and contract hire and leasing companies are placing large orders for the car. After all it's ups and downs Jaguar seems to be as strongly placed as it has ever been.
Article Source: http://www.bullseyearticles.com
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