Jaguar

Jaguar can trace its roots back to 1922 when a man named William Lyons and William Walmsley decided to produce their own car – however both had been Motorbike enthusiasts. It wasn’t until 1935 that the Jaguar name was actually on a car, their sedan was named the SS Jaguar. In 1945 the entire company took the name and since then it has been a very recognizable brand.

They first made waves in the 1950s with some very stylish beasts and sedans – and then bought the Daimler Motor Company (Not the same Daimler as Daimler-Benz) and took on their stock of manufacturing and vehicles. In the 1960’s Jaguar decided to use the Daimler name for their extremely posh and luxurious vehicles, resulting in some slight confusion. Jaguar then merged with the BMX (British Motor Corp) to create the BMH, and then again they merged with even more, it was a merge fest I tell you, a merge fest, creating the BLMC, followed by more fiscal problems and another name change to BL. In the 80’s Jaguar was taken out of the mix as a completely independent company on Wall Street, and thus was privatized rather than kept nationalized, and then Ford came along and swooped in – buying it. In 1999 Ford had fully completed its mission.

Jaguar became a car in Ford’s new Premier Group, and was joined by Aston Martin, and Volvo. They were the Crème de la crème, but seven years later in 2007 Ford dumped Land Rover, and Aston Martin. Unfortunately for Ford Jaguar has yet to post earnings above the red ink, and has been somewhat failing. In the 70’s and 80’s the car was seen as a junker, unreliable and prone to breaking apart under pressure because of the machinery was not as well done as it had been before the mergers – however after Ford bought Jaguar that record went away, with it having a much better time – and being seen as much more reliable, but is still considered today as one of the three least reliable brands. Ford had planned to further redesign the Jaguar lines and bring it up to being very reliable in the future, hopefully to salvage what is left of a tarnished reputation in a once highly sought after car – however those plans will not likely come to fruition. Ford has put Jaguar up for sale, and as of now (September 2007) no buyer has been announced yet.