Jaguar XJ-S - From Calamity to Classic

in a bid to replace the legendary e-type jaguar released in 1975 the xjs a car which put a greater emphasis on the rising trend for grand tourers during that decade but ill-timing combined with controversial styling and woeful build quality concerns meant the company's new flagship would struggle to find its footing during its early years only gaining a new appreciation after nearly a decade of trouble production and threats of being discontinued for context the reason as to the controversy surrounding the xjs is owed entirely to its predecessor the jaguar e type of 1961 a car which had garnered fame across the globe for its magnificent mixture of styling and performance where lines which appeared to have been sculpted by the wind itself were combined with a reported 150 mile an hour top speed thus making it among the most desirable cars ever produced however by the mid-1960s in order to keep the product range fresh a project to replace the e-type began in 1966 under the xj-21 concept a coupe a design with a 105-inch wheelbase which adopted many features from the preceding e type but included a two inch wider track while a further styling scheme penned by jaguar stylist and engineer of the e-type malcolm sayer was produced in january 1967 which introduced a different nose air intake and wider rear wings by 1968 jaguar proposed an ambitious rollout of four brand new sports car models including a long wheelbase roadster powered by a 5.3 liter v12 a two-seater coupe with flying buttresses as well as a two by two version of this car which would be a direct replacement for the e-type and a four-seater sport sedan known as the xj three-liter gt which would be smaller with a 96-inch wheelbase but feature distinctive twin headlamps and a truncated cam tail would say a recommending to jaguar chairman sir william lyons a 2x2 sports car based on parts for the upcoming xj6 saloon and would be of a low wide profile in order to match the likes of italian contemporaries on november 14th of that year jaguar's chief engineer and technical director william haynes persuaded lions to fit the upcoming jaguar v12 engine into the e-type before the xj-21 saloon the design of which had been frozen in 1968 in favor of a two by two coupe and roadster model the v12 e type project being christened codename xj25 in january 1970 although delays in developing the troublesome jaguar v12 meant the xj25 known as the series 3e type would not enter sales until 1971 threatening the future of the xj-21 the main problem behind the xj-21 was jaguar's poor financial situation the production costs for developing the e-type in the early 1960s combined with a fire at the company's browns lane factory in 1957 and the purchase of the daimler company in 1960 meaning that by 1966 the company was in a dangerous fiscal position and was only saved through its own merger into the ranks of the british motor corporation or bmc and subsequently formed into british layland in 1968 of which 24 million pounds of jaguar's profits between 1968 and 1974 were distributed among the ailing aspects of the wider british leyland firm this turbulent period meaning that the ability to apply full investment into the four new sports car models proposed by jaguar could not be achieved by the end of 1968 the xj-21 project had been morphed into two new schemes codenamed xj27 for the coupe model and xj28 for the roadster incorporating the jaguar v12 while also moving away from an e-type based production to one more in line with the underpinnings of the xj6 sayer much to the controversy of styling critics incorporating the flying buttresses at the rear of the car from the earlier two-seater coupe proposal while mechanically the car utilized a 102 inch version of the xj6's 108-inch floor plan and moved the rear suspension forward to give it a more compact stance further trouble came for the project as the 1970s dawned with malcolm sayer after years of ill health passing away at the age of 53 from a heart attack on april 22nd 1970 while frank lofty england succeeded lions as jaguar chairman in march 1972 only for he himself to take early retirement in 1974 following increasing industrial tensions and centralized decision-making within british leyland being replaced by the controversial jeffrey robinson who in association with technical director bob knight observed the near two-year waiting list for the xj series of cars and thereby demanded the production capacity at the browns lane factory be up to its maximum availability of 60 000 units per annum although this move was criticized for robbing the cars of their much desired quality despite robinson's plans the 1973 oil crisis and the recession that followed meant that suddenly the idea of buying luxury cars and grand tourers was deeply unpopular both for the spike in fuel prices which rendered the likes of the jaguar v12 engine far too inefficient for the average motorist and for the exponential rise in the cost of living which made economy paramount for both the rich and the poor alike putting the xj27 and xj28 schemes in danger of cancellation to add further insult to injury a slew of production faults build quality problems and worker relations strife caused by a mixture of weak management and militant trade unions culminated in the bankruptcy of british layland in december 1974 where upon it was nationalised by the government of prime minister harold wilson the desire to cut as many managerial positions as possible within the company in order to stem the massive overhead resulting in jaguar losing its autonomy within the british leyland conglomerate forcing robinson out of his role as chairman of the firm and leaving the day-to-day operations of the jaguar division in the hands of brown's lane plant director peter craig and engineering director bob knight who reported directly to leyland cars derek whittaker in the wake of sayer's death in 1970 styling work had been handed over to doug thorpe who was rapidly faced with the prospect of having to cancel the xj28 roadster when following the death of actor james dean in 1955 the united states government had long proposed the banning of all drop top convertibles and in a panic the british leyland management demanded the xj-28 be dropped and although by the time of british leyland's bankruptcy in 1974 the us government's motions towards banning convertibles had been dismissed it was far too late in the development stage to create a drop top version of the xj27 with the limited funds left available jaguar were desperate to get their troubled sports model released and therefore in september 1975 the car now christened the xjs was unveiled after over a decade of planning and development the vehicle being powered by a 285 horsepower fuel-injected 5.3 liter v12 engine with either four-speed manual or automatic transmission although the manual gearbox itself was older than the xjs project and was at the limit of its torque capabilities when married to the v12 exacerbated further by the lack of an overdrive and the fact that the motoring trends were favoring the use of five-speed transmissions rather than the four-speed example in the xjs the use of the v12 was a quick point of derision for the post oil crisis world the 285 horsepower unit while delivering a naught to 60 time of 7.5 seconds and the top speed of 152 miles an hour being lambasted for its meager 16.4 miles per gallon fuel efficiency a significant factor which drove away many potential buyers while most controversial of all was the car's boxy and somewhat understated styling which cut down much of the chrome wood and other trimmings that had cemented jaguar's reputation for being a quality item leaving a somewhat stark and uninviting machine that struggled to fill the shoes left by the outgoing e-type the car's many shortcomings were reflected in its sales performance falling below the forecast output of 3 000 units per year as predicted by jaguar this figure being based on the 4686 series 3e types which had been released during its final year of production although the management had neglected to note that due to the many unpopular changes to the e-type design including its more squat appearance and the fitting of the v12 the last series examples were only selling at a mere 3743 pounds while the xjs had been put on sale at a price of 8 900 pounds or 76 350 pounds in 2021 a bargain compared to the foreign crop but still a very expensive machine for existing customers in the end the failure of the xjs forced jaguar out of the sports car market leaving it in the firm hands of porsche near 911. the new direction of the model being to do battle against the mercedes-benz 450 slc although the antiquated building facilities at brown's lane had no hope of matching the model of efficiency that was the german car factories with up to 7000 slcs being produced per annum against a comparative dribble being output by jaguar its inability to compete with the mercedes being further exacerbated by u.s market xjs examples being detuned to 244 horsepower in order to meet emissions legislation giving the car an 8.6 second naught to 60 time and thereby making it a somewhat sluggish alternative to a ferrari 400 gt or a lamborghini espada the most crippling blow was the build quality as even with the bankruptcy of british leyland the continued strike action of the workers within both british layland and component suppliers and the lacks attitude to fault finding meant the xjs suffered among the poorest customer quality reviews of its class while one notable design flaw revolved around the placement of the electronic injection system which was mounted in the hottest part of the engine and therefore in the summer heat of major customer bases such as california or southern europe would cause the car to cut out sporadically leaving owners stranded on the side of the road jaguar were hemorrhaging money on the xjs and a policy of simply covering the cracks had to be adopted rather than fixing fundamental flaws with the car while in 1977 amid the infamous two-year grunwick dispute which led to an almost general strike in the uk that nearly crippled the entire country british layland's market share hit rock bottom and thus south african-born businessman michael edwards was brought in as chairman to rebuild the damage caused his first act being to break up the leyland cars conglomerate and allow autonomy to return in a limited capacity to the surviving karl marx that had come together to form british leyland jaguar being placed into the jaguar rover triumph division under the management of bob knight on the shop floor jaguar had hit its lowest point with proposed improvements such as the xj40 saloon and the aj6 engine being frozen due to a lack of development funds the series 3 xj being condemned from all sides because of its woeful unreliability and the xjs still an ever-present financial black hole with every outlook being that jaguar would exit the grand tour market and axed the xjs in 1979 after only four years of production instead during 1981 knight was replaced by john egan as managing director of jaguar and through a superb feat of worker relations was able to convince the workforce to try and regain the quality and prestige that jaguar cars had once enjoyed back in the 1950s and 60s while also taking to task suppliers and other component manufacturers who had either been crippled by industrial action or failed to deliver reliable products for the company's models most important to eagan was turning around the dim prospects of the xjs to essentially a hard reboot of the model in 1981 with the xjs he or high efficiency which at a cost of five hundred thousand pounds replaced the jaguar v12s original combustion chambers and flat-faced cylinder heads with a more conventional cylinder head known as the fireball inside of which was contained the combustion chamber pushing up the car's average fuel efficiency to 20 miles per gallon a generally moderate improvement over the original v12 but one that had a notable effect on buyers as egan continued his public relations crusade with the dawn of the 1980s and the yuppie culture of young high-flying business executives now entering the ever-expanding financial and service sector of industry the xjs had gone from being fool's gold to riding the crest of an incredible trend a huge demand for modern fast and stylish luxury cars such as the porsche 928 making the xjs he a massive success with both journalists and customers selling 311 units in 1982 against the miga 1292 units of the previous year in 1983 the he was complemented by the xjsc a cabriolet model which answered the call of u.s dealers to supply the massive demand for convertible models and was fitted with the brand new aj6 straight-six engine which had been in development since 1975 although the xjsc wasn't a full commitment by jaguar to create a dedicated drop top variant simply taking the coupe body shell and removing the flying buttresses while adding strength to the underbody this conversion work being carried out by the park sheep metal company in coventry fortunately more radical changes to jaguar came during august 1984 as during the gradual privatization of british layland under the government of prime minister margaret thatcher the jaguar company was sold off into independent ownership taking with it a 91.5 million pound profit thanks squarely to the xjs 6028 coupes having been delivered to customers all across the globe during that year alone although only 178 of the sc models were built during the same period illustrating their lack of popularity when compared to full convertibles like the mercedes-benz 560 slc and the aston martin v8 valente therefore in 1985 jaguar revived the code name xj28 in order to develop a full convertible version of the xjs while in the meantime the company commissioned cincinnati-based coach builder hessen easenhart to convert coupes into convertible form under an 18-month contract the first hne xjs being delivered in late 1986 while around 838 examples were built overall until the factory-made xjs convertible was released in 1988. the project carried out in partnership with german coach builder carmen 1989 was the best year for xjs sales as while the model was now 14 years old 11 207 units left the showroom during that period while against a generally falling sales trend for the car in the united states the timely provision of the convertible brought about a resurgence that saved the model in america and the forecast 3 000 cars per annum build out figure originally presented by jaguar in 1975 was now being easily met by the company although electrical steering and suspension problems did sully the car's reputation against more robust german equivalents however in the year of the xjs's peak sales 1989 was a very bad year financially for jaguar as much like in 1966 the company had overstretched itself somewhat with major building projects including the creation of a new 55 million pound technical center at whitley in coventry the protracted development of a dedicated e-type replacement called the xj41 and xj42f type and early concept work behind an xjs facelift set for delivery in 1990 these self-inflicted costs being exacerbated further by a rise in the strength of the pound against the dollar which rendered exports to the usa more expensive and thus less popular and pervasive reliability problems with the xj40 saloon which required the settlement of up to 32 000 warranty claims by customers during that year alone all these factors combining to wipe out jaguar's profits and push the firm to the edge of bankruptcy while jaguar entertained an offer from general motors to buy a minority stake in the firm rivals ford moved quickly to sweep up complete financial control of the company in november 1989 making jaguar a wholly owned subsidiary of the ford motor company at a cost of 1.6 billion pounds and in so doing helping to bring to fruition many of the firm's prospective improvements such as the whitley technical center and the facelifted xjs while sacrifices included the f-type project which was axed in 1993. six months after the purchase of jaguar by ford sir john egan left the company after a decade as chairman being replaced by ford executive bill hayden who was shocked by the antiquated production facilities and methods present at the browns lane plant demanding a full refurbishment of the work practices within the jaguar company while also introducing to the xjs now rebranded as merely the unhyphenated xjs its long-awaited facelift in may 1991 the new xjs model including the option of a 223 horsepower version of the aj6 six-cylinder engine as the popularity of v12s rapidly waned due to the stringent emissions regulations of the early 1990s costing 50 million pounds the facelifted xjs while still a highly popular machine was a design very long in the tooth but due to the amount of money ford was investing into refurbishing the archaic browns lane production facilities and tooling which also came at a cost of 50 million pounds the car was forced to soldier on in production while other carryovers from the 1970s such as the porsche 908 were discontinued with jaguar's marketing being hard pressed to keep up the enthusiasm for a model which externally looked almost identical to the original xjs of 1975. in 1994 the v12 as a staple of the xjs and among the more controversial aspects of the car's construction was quietly dropped while in the background jaguar had reworked the abandoned f-type concept of 1988 into a joint platform which would be shared by the flagship models of the two sports car manufacturers now under the ownership of ford the aston martin db7 of 1994 and the jaguar xk8 of 1996 the new car entering sales in october of that year while the final xjs in the face of its replacement slipped silently off the production line in april 1996 bringing an end to 21 years of production after 115 413 units had been sold today the xjs holds a mixed reputation among enthusiasts the press and the public purists are riding the car as being an angular low-slung box when compared to the famous e-type it replaced while also highlighting the car's many mechanical and technical flaws which helped to sully the reputation of the jaguar mark and bring it to the edge of collapse on numerous occasions on the other hand the xjs is also celebrated for the fact that in spite of all the odds set against it the model was able to survive the onslaught of bad press poor build quality and industrial strife to become a massive success during the 1980s helping to keep the jaguar company afloat through some of the darkest patches of its existence and thereby create one of the most successful models in the company's long and distinguished history you

Channel: Ruairidh MacVeigh

Views: 39,037

Keywords: car, cars, automobile, auto, bus, truck, motor, motor vehicle, saloon, estate, compact, sports, roadster, transport, road, heritage, historic, Daimler, UK, England, Britain, British, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Jaguar, British Leyland, Leyland, BL, British Motor Corporation, BMC, Coventry, Jaguar XJ-S, XJ-S, XJS, Jaguar XJS, Jaguar E-Type, E-Type, Jaguar XK8, XK8, Jaguar F-Type, Jaguar XJ40, Browns Lane, West Midlands, Jag, Ford, Ford Motor Company, Jaguar XJ6, Aston Martin DB7, Aston Martin, 1970s, 1980s

Id: RExKIzt6ve4

Length: 19min 16sec (1156 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021