Jaguar was founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Co. of Blackpool, England. The name was changed to SS Jaguar in 1935, then to simply Jaguar after World War II (a good PR move). It became one of the first British car companies to export to North America, setting up its own distribution in New York City in 1954. Though Jaguar had a reputation for building exquisite, performance-oriented rides, its lineup was plagued with quality-control issues. The automaker became a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co. in 1989 and remained with the company until it was sold, along with Land Rover, to the Indian firm Tata Motors in 2008.
