Jaguar Cars facts for kids

Jaguar Cars (former company)
	1964 Jaguar E-Type series 1 coupé
Industry	Automotive
Fate	2013 merged with Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover
Predecessor(s)	SS Cars Limited
Successor(s)	Jaguar Land Rover
People who started it	Sir William Lyons
Defunct	31 December 2012
Parent	Independent (1934-1966); British Motor Holdings (1966-1968); British Leyland (1968-1984); Independent (1984-1990); Ford Motor Company (1990-2008); Tata Motors (2008-2012);

Jaguar
Owner	Jaguar Land Rover (since 2013)
Country	United Kingdom
Introduced	1935
Related brands	Land Rover
Markets	Worldwide
Previous owners	Jaguar Cars (1935-2012)
Tagline	The Art of Performance
Website	www.jaguar.com

Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England and owned by the Indian company Tata Motors since 2008. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover on 1 January 2013.

Jaguar's business was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing bodies for passenger cars. Under the ownership of S. S. Cars Limited the business extended to complete cars made in association with Standard Motor Co, many bearing Jaguar as a model name.

Jaguar has, in recent years, manufactured cars for the British Prime Minister, the most recent delivery being an XJ in May 2010. The company also holds royal warrants from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.

In 1990 Ford acquired Jaguar Cars and it remained in their ownership, joined in 2000 by Land Rover, till 2008. Ford then sold both Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors. Tata created Jaguar Land Rover. In 2013 Jaguar Cars was merged with Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover Limited as the single design, manufacture, sales company and brand owner for both Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.

SS Jaguar 100 - 2½ Litre 1938

Since the Ford ownership era, Jaguar and Land Rover have used joint design facilities in engineering centres at Whitley in Coventry and Gaydon in Warwickshire and Jaguar cars have been assembled in plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull.

Jaguar first appeared in September 1935, the company made its name by producing a series of successful eye-catching sports cars, its slogan being for years was "Grace, Space, Pace".

Sportscar racing

Jaguar made its name by producing a series of successful eye-catching sports cars, all "value for money". The sports cars were successful in international motor-sport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company's products.

Two of the proudest moments in Jaguar's long history in motor sport involved winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951 and again in 1953. Later in the hands of the Scottish racing team two more wins were added in 1956 and 1957.

The Jaguar R5 being driven by Mark Webber in 2004—the team's last season in F1

In spite of such a performance orientation, it was always the intention to build the business by producing world-class sporting saloons. Jaguar secured financial stability and a reputation for excellence with a series of elegantly styled luxury saloons. All were deemed very good value, with comfortable rides, good handling, high performance, and great style.

Combined with a trend-setting series of sports cars, Jaguar's reputation as a prestige motorcar manufacturer had few rivals. The company's post-War achievements are remarkable, considering both the shortages that drove Britain (the Ministry of Supply still allocated raw materials) and the state of metallurgical development of the era.

Few engine types have demonstrated such vastness and longevity: Jaguar used the Twin OHC XK Engine, as it came to be known, in the Jaguar XJ6 saloon from 1969 through 1992, and employed in a J60 variant in such diverse vehicles as the British Army's Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) family of vehicles, as well as the Fox armoured reconnaissance vehicle, the Ferret Scout Car, and the Stonefield four-wheel-drive all-terrain lorry. Properly maintained, the standard production XK Engine would achieve 200,000 miles of useful life.