Jaguar Story

From sidecars to sports cars — how Jaguar became one of Britain's defining performance marques.

Jaguar began life in Blackpool in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company, founded by William Lyons and William Walmsley to build motorcycle sidecars, then coachbuilt bodies for popular chassis of the day.

The Jaguar name first appeared in 1935 on the SS Jaguar 100, and the company was formally renamed Jaguar Cars in 1945 — a deliberate break from the SS initials in the post-war years.

The following decades built the marque's identity around style and speed: the XK120 (1948), the Mark 2 saloon, and the E-Type (1961), famously described by Enzo Ferrari as 'the most beautiful car ever made.'

That identity — performance wrapped in unmistakable design — has carried through Jaguar's saloon era (XJ), its return to sports cars (F-Type), and into its current all-electric direction.