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 he king of animals has not been favored as a marque name any more than other big cats, all of which are found in the zoo of the automobile animals which abounds with cats like the tiger, panther, puma, cougar, lynx and naturally the jaguar. An odd twist to this particular history comes from the fact that the man who named the Jaguar was a "lion" himself - William Lyons.
Lyons began in the motor business by manufacturing sidecars to motorcycles. His business partner was William Walmsley and their enterprise Swallow Sidecar Company expanded in 1927 to include manufacturing of coachwork for automobiles. This was also added to the company name - Swallow Sidecar & Coachbuilding Co. The following year the "Sidecar" was dropped from the company name as the sidecar production had diminished greatly.
Be as it may, Swallow Coachbuilding manufactured the S.S. I and S.S. II models until 1936 when a new company, S.S. Cars Ltd. was formed to produce the automobiles. The old company name was kept for the firm that manufactured sidecars. |
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At the same time a new model was introduced and called S.S. Jaguar. The Second World War brought a distaste of the letters SS, reminding of the notorious SS-troops of Germany. The logo also featured the letters in an angular style which further reinforced the likeness.
The Jaguar insignia naturally features the feline beast as a grimacing facial mask or as a figurine leaping from the top of the radiator. Oddly enough Jaguar has also used an insignia with eagle wings and tail but less the head. |
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In the autumn of 1931 Lyons introduced a sports car which featured an engine from the Standard Sixteen and was named S.S., referring to the original name of the company, although the second "S" could also have come from the engine manufacturer as the word "Sidecar" had already been omitted from the company name. The nose badge displayed the name Standard Swallow and as an alternate origin for the S.S. the expression "Super Sports" has also been mentioned.
To avoid unpleasant associations the cars were simply called Jaguars and the company name was changed to Jaguar Cars Ltd in 1945 and this name has been retained although the company was merged to be a part of British Leyland for several years.
ir William Lyons (he had been knighted in 1956) remained the president of the company board until 1972 when he retired. He bought the Daimler company in 1960 and the truck manufacturer Guy Motors in 1961 but all these enterprises were merged into the British Motor Corporation in 1966. In 1984 Jaguar and Daimler were separated into an individual corporate entity which has belonged to Ford Motor Company since 1990.