Founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company by William Lyons, the company, whose initials were SS.C, changed its name to Jaguar in 1945 not to mention the infamous German SS. The company remained independent until it was nationalized in 1966. In 1984, the company was separated in the stock market – it is a privatization of the Thatcher government – until it was taken over by Ford in 1990. In 1999, she became a part of Premier Automotive Group with Land Rover, Volvo, Lincoln and Aston Martin recently sold by Premier Automotive in 2007.
On March 26, 2008, Ford sold Jaguar to Indian automaker Tata Motors. Jaguar owns the Daimler car manufacturer (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), acquired in 1960. Daimler is now more than a small mark on the most luxurious Jaguar models coming out of factories.
Models, the most striking is the Jaguar XJ (produced since 1968), which remains for many the ultimate Jaguar. Since 1968, the XJ series I have been profoundly modified in 1973 (series II), 1979 (series III) in 1986 for Europe and 1987 in the United States (XJ40), 1995 (X300), 1997 (to the X308 powered by a V8) and 2003 (the X350), and finally the new X351 appeared in 2009. The most luxurious XJ models carry the brands Vanden Plas or Daimler.
The brand has had great success in motor sport, especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans won it seven times. Jaguar won in 1951 and 1953 with the Jaguar C-Type, and then in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the Jaguar D-Type.
Jaguar abandoned this prestigious event to the mid-1980s when Tom Walkinshaw TWR team started to prepare prototypes powered by Jaguar V12 for the European races. The team starts winning races regularly since 1987 and won the Le Mans again in 1988 and 1990 with the XJR-9 and XJR-12. The cars are then powered with V6 Turbo and the Ford V8.
