Sir William Lyons’ signing of an agreement with BMC to form British Motor (Holdings) Ltd in mid-1965, merging Jaguar with Britain's biggest car manufacturer, brought to an end more than 40 years of independence. Since the creation of SS Cars in 1922 and its rebranding as Jaguar in 1945, Lyons’ famous creation had gone from strength to strength. But its independence ended upon its merger with BMC, ushering in a new era that would see Jaguar becoming part of the mighty British Leyland empire in the late 1960s.
It would take until 1984 for Jaguar to become fully independent (albeit briefly) once again, although the background leading up to that makes for fascinating reading. Throughout the ’70s, Jaguar suffered the same reputation for poor quality as most of the British Leyland marques, despite its 1968-on XJ saloon range being highly praised in terms of its design, refinement and driver appeal. The essential elements were all there for a sector-beating luxury saloon, but the perception of unreliability tarnished its reputation, while well-publicised Leyland-wide industrial disputes dragged the name down further.
By the mid-1970s, with British Leyland on the verge of collapse, the British government commissioned the Ryder Report, an utterly damning assessment of the company's woes by Sir Don Ryder. One of its recommendations was total centralisation, meaning the loss of individual management structures, something that infuriated Sir William Lyons: “I was furious with He was, however, ignored.
