Jaguar began in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool, and its famous leaper exists because William Lyons thought an earlier mascot looked like a cat shot off a fence.
- Country
-
United Kingdom - Active
- Since 1922
- Founded by
- William Lyons and William Walmsley
- Website
- Official website ↗
Sidecars by the seaside
Jaguar began on the Lancashire coast, building sidecars for motorcycles. In Blackpool, William Walmsley was making them by hand when a young motorcycle enthusiast from the neighbourhood, William Lyons, not yet 21, saw a business in it. Walmsley treated the work as a hobby. Lyons talked his father round.
The Swallow Sidecar Company was formed in September 1922, backed by a £1,000 bank overdraft. Production started on the upper floors of a small factory on Bloomfield Road. Soon the pair were also building smart bodies for small cars like the Austin Seven, and in 1928 the business moved to Coventry, the heart of the British motor industry.
From Swallow to SS to Jaguar
The name shifted with the business. In 1931 the Swallow name appeared without the sidecars, and by 1934 the company was S.S. Cars, short for Standard Swallow. Walmsley left that year and Lyons bought his shares.
The big cat arrived in 1935. The SS Jaguar 2½ Litre Saloon was the first car to carry the Jaguar name, and a year later the SS Jaguar 100 roadster followed. For a decade, Jaguar was a model name. Then, on 23 March 1945, Lyons announced that SS Cars would become Jaguar Cars.
A cat that refused to look shot off a fence
Jaguar’s best-known symbol started as a complaint. Lyons saw an aftermarket jaguar mascot fitted to a radiator cap and hated it. He said it looked “like a cat shot off a fence”.
So he went to an expert. Frederick Gordon Crosby was an automotive illustrator, best known for his work for Autocar, who had started out in the drawing office of the Daimler Motor Company. According to Jaguar Heritage, Crosby designed the first official leaper in late 1937: a big cat stretched out in mid-jump, fixed to the radiator cap. It was first offered to the public in 1938 and sold until 1951.
The idea was simple: if a jaguar was going to sit on the car, it had to look like the real thing, and look good doing it. Jaguar Heritage notes that the leaper has been subtly altered several times since then, evolving into the form it has today.
Copy nothing: the 2024 reset
On 19 November 2024 Jaguar showed a completely new identity, built around a line from Sir William Lyons himself: “A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing.”
The new set of marks has several parts. The Device Mark is the new Jaguar lettering, which Jaguar describes as a celebration of modernism, geometric form, symmetry and simplicity, blending upper and lowercase characters. The Strikethrough is a bold linear graphic meant to strike through imitation and the ordinary. The leaper survives as the Maker’s Mark, reimagined as a sign of provenance that is always leaping forward, and an Artist Mark monogram acts as a finishing flourish, like a signature on a completed work.
Reaction was loud. The launch video, which showed no cars at all, drew widespread criticism on social media, including from Elon Musk. Managing director Rawdon Glover defended it, describing the new direction as Jaguar being bold and doing things differently. The first car shaped by the new identity, the Type 00 concept, was revealed at Miami Art Week on 2 December 2024.
A painter’s palette
The 2024 identity has a palette of its own. Jaguar picked yellow, red and blue, the colours of a painter’s palette, to tie the brand to art. There’s a rule attached: they are always shown with texture or movement, never as flat colour.
Cats that made the name
Lyons had an eye for a line, and several Jaguars became famous on looks and speed alike. A few of them won Le Mans too.
Landmark Jaguars, decade by decade
- 1935: SS Jaguar 2½ Litre Saloon. The first car to carry the Jaguar name.
- 1948: XK120. Launched the XK engine at the 1948 Motor Show. On a road at Jabbeke in Belgium a standard car reached 126 mph, and 133 mph without its windscreen.
- 1951: C-type. Bodied by Malcolm Sayer, it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its first attempt.
- 1957: D-type. Two privately entered Ecurie Ecosse D-types finished first and second at Le Mans.
- 1961: E-type. Launched at the Geneva Motor Show on 15 March 1961.
- 1968: XJ6. Named Car of the Year in 1969. Many regard its shape as Lyons’ masterpiece.
- 2024: Type 00. The concept that introduced the new Jaguar identity, revealed in Miami.
Since June 2008 Jaguar has belonged to Tata Motors, which bought it together with Land Rover from Ford. On the British luxury scene its old rivals carry very different badges: compare the wings of Aston Martin and Bentley. For more on the craft behind emblems like these, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Jaguar leaper?
According to Jaguar Heritage, the first official leaper was designed by the illustrator F. Gordon Crosby in late 1937, after William Lyons rejected an aftermarket mascot. It was first offered to the public in 1938.
What did SS stand for?
Standard Swallow. The company became S.S. Cars in the 1930s and was renamed Jaguar Cars on 23 March 1945.
When was Jaguar founded?
In September 1922, when William Lyons and William Walmsley formed the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool. The first car with the Jaguar name followed in 1935.
What is the “Copy Nothing” rebrand?
Jaguar’s new identity, shown in November 2024. It takes its name from Lyons’ belief that a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing, and brings a new wordmark mixing upper and lowercase letters, a strikethrough graphic, a yellow, red and blue palette and a reimagined leaper.
From Blackpool sidecars to the leaper: the facts
- Founded
- 1922
- Founder
- William Lyons and William Walmsley
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Headquarters
- Coventry, United Kingdom
- Parent company
- JLR (Tata Motors)
- Current emblem
- A geometric Jaguar wordmark mixing upper and lowercase letters, with a reimagined leaper, introduced in November 2024
- Known for
- The leaper mascot, the E-type and Le Mans wins
- Website
- Official website ↗
