In 1934, Walmsley elected to sell-out and in order to buy the Swallow business (but not the company which was liquidated) Lyons formed SS Cars, finding new capital by issuing shares to the public.

"[14] Though five years of pent-up demand ensured plenty of buyers production was hampered by shortage of materials, particularly steel, issued to manufacturers until the 1950s by a central planning authority under strict government control.

[15] From this time Jaguar was entirely dependent for their bodies on external suppliers, in particular then independent Pressed Steel and in 1966 that carried them into BMC, BMH and British Leyland.

It was risky to take what had previously been considered a racing or low-volume and cantankerous engine needing constant fettling and apply it to reasonable volume production saloon cars.

Two of the proudest moments in Jaguar's long history in motor sport involved winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951 and again in 1953.

The company's post-War achievements are remarkable, considering both the shortages that drove Britain (the Ministry of Supply still allocated raw materials) and the state of metallurgical development of the era.

[25] At a press conference on 11 July 1965 at the Great Eastern Hotel in London, Lyons and BMC chairman George Harriman announced, "Jaguar Group of companies is to merge with The British Motor Corporation Ltd., as the first step towards the setting up of a joint holding company to be called British Motor (Holdings) Limited".

A combination of poor decision making by the board along with the financial difficulties of, especially, the Austin-Morris division (previously BMC) led to the Ryder Report and to effective nationalisation in 1975.

[27] In July 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the London Stock Exchange – one of the Thatcher government's many privatisations[28]– to create its own track record.

In early 1986 Egan reported he had tackled the main problems that were holding Jaguar back from selling more cars: quality control, lagging delivery schedules, poor productivity.

On 11 June 2007, Ford announced that it planned to sell Jaguar, along with Land Rover and retained the services of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to advise it on the deal.

Private equity firms such as Alchemy Partners of the UK, TPG Capital, Ripplewood Holdings (which hired former Ford Europe executive Sir Nick Scheele to head its bid), Cerberus Capital Management and One Equity Partners (owned by JPMorgan Chase and managed by former Ford executive Jacques Nasser) of the US, Tata Motors of India and a consortium comprising Mahindra & Mahindra (an automobile manufacturer from India) and Apollo Management all initially expressed interest in purchasing the marques from Ford.

[44] On 26 March 2008, Ford announced that it had agreed to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors of India, and that they expected to complete the sale by the end of the second quarter of 2008.

[50] On 1 January 2013, the group, which had been operating as two separate companies (Jaguar Cars Limited and Land Rover), although on an integrated basis, underwent a fundamental restructuring.

[52] In 2020, the former CEO of the French company Renault, Thierry Bolloré, replaced Ralf Speth as the head of Jaguar Land Rover.

The holding company detailed its plans to downsize Jaguar into a lower volume brand, competing closer to the likes of Bentley and Porsche.

[60][61] The change was markedly controversial, being met with criticism online,[62] notably including that from Elon Musk, American comedian Stephen Colbert, and British right wing politician Nigel Farage.

In 1951, having outgrown the original Coventry site they moved to Browns Lane, which had been a wartime "shadow factory" run by The Daimler Company.

The Browns Lane plant ceased trim and final operations in 2005, the X350 XJ having already moved to Castle Bromwich two years prior, with the XK and S-Type following.

The Browns Lane plant, which continued producing veneer trim for a while and housed the Jaguar Daimler Heritage centre until it moved to the British Motor Museum site, has now been demolished and is being redeveloped.

Jaguar acquired the Whitley engineering centre from Peugeot in 1986, the facility having been part of Chrysler Europe which the French firm had owned since the late 1970s.

[77][78][79]The F-Type convertible was launched at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, following its display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2012,[80] and is billed as a successor to the legendary E-Type.

It had a slightly more streamlined appearance than pre-war models, but more important was the change to torsion bar independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes.

[citation needed] In the spring of 1948 Lyons had returned from USA reporting Jaguar's individuality and perceived quality attracted the admiration of American buyers accustomed to the virtual uniformity of their home-grown vehicles.

It was powered by a new twin overhead camshaft (DOHC) 3.5-litre hemi-head six-cylinder engine designed by William Heynes, Walter Hassan and Claude Baily.

[citation needed] The second big breakthrough was the large Mark VII saloon in 1950, a car especially conceived for the American market, Jaguar was overwhelmed with orders.

There was a production run of two-door XJ coupés with a pillarless hardtop body called the XJ-C which was built between 1975 and 1977, in addition to about 2,000 Daimler-badged examples.

The XJ220 was confirmed the fastest production car in the world at the time after Martin Brundle recorded a speed of 217 mph (349 km/h) on the Nardo track in Italy.

To cater to the limousine market, all XJ models are offered with a longer wheelbase (LWB) as an option, which increases the rear legroom.

In 1982, a successful relationship with Tom Walkinshaw Racing commenced with the XJ-S competing in the European Touring Car Championship, which it won in 1984.