Jaguar: How did the name of this iconic brand come about?

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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Une publication partagée par Jaguar France (@jaguar_france)

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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.

Hélène Cougot

Passionnée depuis son plus jeune âge par l’art et la mode, Hélène s’oriente vers une école de stylisme, l’Atelier Chardon-Savard à Paris, avec une option Communication. Afin d’ajouter des cordes à son arc, elle décide de compléter sa formation par un MBA en Management du Luxe et Marketing Expérientiel à l’Institut Supérieur de Gestion à Paris dont elle sort diplômée en 2020. Elle a notamment écrit des articles lifestyle et beauté pour le magazine Do it in Paris et se spécialise en rédaction d’articles concernant le luxe, l’art et la mode au sein du magazine Luxus Plus.********** [EN] Passionate about art and fashion from a young age, Hélène went to a fashion design school, Atelier Chardon-Savard in Paris, with a Communication option. In order to add more strings to her bow, she decided to complete her education with an MBA in Luxury Management and Experiential Marketing at the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris from which she graduated in 2020. She has written lifestyle and beauty articles for Do it in Paris magazine and specializes in writing articles about luxury, art and fashion for Luxus Plus magazine.