The famous luxury car brand Jaguar has not always been called that. It took a world war for it to be able to bear the name we all know today.
The story of Jaguar begins in 1922, when two buddies, William Lyons and William Walmsley, started a body shop under the name of Swallow Sidecar Company. In its early days, the company produced aluminum boxes for sidecars. They started to build bodies for Austin Seven in addition to sidecars. In 1928, the company was named Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuiding Company and moved to Coventry, England.
In 1931, the company created its first car: the Swallow Sidecar 1 or SS1, released by the subsidiary SS Cars limited. But William Walmsley no longer shared the same ambitions as his colleague and sold him all his shares. It was time for the first successes and in 1935, a sedan and then a sports roadster were put on sale. The SS 100 model also won many victories in automobile competitions.
In 1937, Williams Lyons, also marketing director of the company, renamed it Jaguar and brought out the 2.5 l sedan. But the war entered Europe and the world and no cars were produced during the Second World War, even though the company participated in the war effort. In 1945, after the victory over Nazi Germany, it is fashionable to change, Swallow Sidecar, or SS, which no longer passes. Jaguar cars ltd then becomes the official name of the brand.
The logo then takes the profile of the leaping feline and the name Jaguar is written in green capital letters. Jaguar imposes itself as a manufacturer of sports and top-of-the-range vehicles to the point of winning several times the 24 Hours of Le Mans during the Fifties. The leaping feline adorns the hoods of the cars and its open mouth has been on the grilles since the XK 120.
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In 1960, William Lyons bought Daimler and 6 years later merged Jaguar with British Motor Company, which included Austin and Morris, among others. The new group, British Motors Holding, merged two years later with Leyland to form British Leyland. At the age of 70, in 1972, William Lyons left the presidency of Jaguar.
In 2001, the first real evolution of the logo took place: the jaguar became longer and the lines became thinner, the letters Jaguar were now in black, always in capital letters, and very detached from each other. In 2008, the Indian group Tata Motors becomes the owner of Jaguar but will wait until 2012 to make the logo evolve once again which takes metallic reflections in 3D effect. Today, the Jaguar company has a bright future ahead of it, participating in Formula E races and challenging internal combustion cars.
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Featured photo : © Jaguar
