Much of Jaguar’s early commercial success during the first few decades after the Second World War came from the American market. However well it did in its homeland and the Commonwealth, whatever its sales achievements in Europe, all paled into insignificance compared to the USA and its many thousands of affluent consumers eager to experience and invest in something that Britain did very well: exciting and beautiful sports cars.
For any company though, however confident and optimistic, making it big across the Atlantic wasn’t easy. Even Volkswagen, that most phenomenally successful of European manufacturers Stateside, initially struggled to make any impact. From 1949 to 1954, its efforts to sell its air-cooled vehicles in America had little impact, and it was only from the late-Fif ties onwards that sales took of f. This was despite the involvement of Max Hoffman; an ex-racing driver turned business mogul who became renowned for importing European cars into the USA. And while he may have failed with VW, he did considerably better with Jaguar. Well, at first. During the Fifties, Hoffman was largely responsible for Jaguar gaining its valuable foothold in America, but his often dubious business dealings eventually caused a rift between him and Jaguar boss William Lyons. It all ended in the courts. Never theless, without Hoffman, Jaguar would have found making it big in the USA considerably more challenging.
Max Hof fman’s story started far away from the States; he was born just outside Vienna in Austria in November 1904. The family name was actually Hoffmann but when Max went to the USA, he dropped the second ‘N’ to make it seem more English. Machines were in his life from the start; his parents owned a
