1975: The Launch

After the 1973 oil crisis, during the mid 1970s the political situation within the UK was somewhat uncertain, the economy was in turmoil and the British Leyland Motor Corporation losses were enormous. The original 1973 launch was pushed back due to a series of strikes and changes to the body design.  In 1975, these losses led to the company being effectively nationalised to safeguard the jobs of the workers. The launch of a new expensive sports car couldn’t have come at a worse time.

May 

The much acclaimed new Jaguar was introduced to a select group of motoring journalists in May 1975, when four cars were put through their paces and were made available for testing by the press. Although the new Jaguar model was not being officially released for some months, dealers were being supplied with cars as early as June. 

September 

The XJ-S was shown to the world for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show on the 10th September 1975. This controversial new model was already with some of the dealers in anticipation of a great and successful unveiling. This new model was seen by some as hard to justify, and the political and economic uncertainty at a time of cutbacks made the XJ-S a target for sceptics. The so-called two-plus-two had a massive thirst for fuel and was seen as uneconomical, but let’s be honest, who worries about fuel consumption when the Jaguar name is synonymous with luxury and comfort.

October 

In October 1975 the XJ-S was unveiled at the British Motor Show at Earls Court. The layout was to show unity between the British Leyland marques, so the Jaguar was placed on the same stand as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro. One magazine wrote:

“Big L is making a great effort to appear dynamic and go-ahead in this Diamond Jubilee show, and is lumping all its offerings together under one ‘Leyland Cars’ banner instead of under individual marque names – an honest move reflecting internal policy, but one which will no doubt annoy (or perhaps sadden) Jaguar enthusiasts, to name but a single group of diehards.”

Expectations were naturally high, but, thankfully, at least overall, few were disappointed. Autocar magazine said:

“An XJ12 driver put into the driving seat of the XJ-S would certainly notice more performance, a slight and valued improvement in the saloon’s already superb handling, and different visibility – the XJ-S tends towards American and Italian fashion in super-fast cars where the faster the car, the less rearward view is deemed necessary – but he would find it more refined if anything, and as gentle to drive. Whatever one thinks of the appearance of the XJ-S – for what personal prejudices are worth, not all of us find this Jaguar as immediately beautiful as several of its predecessors – to drive the XJ-S, even for an afternoon is to admire it very much.”

Browns Lane

The Jaguar assembly plant based at Browns Lane in Coventry had a new assembly track installed specifically for the introduction of the XJ-S. The track was 2000ft (610 metres) long and was built alongside the existing track for the XJ saloon and Coupé models. The laying of the new track was part of a £6.5 million investment package for the development and production of future Jaguar cars. 

Announced in June 1939, Daimler Shadow Factory No. 2 was to be erected in Browns Lane. After the war Daimler used the factory until Radford had been repaired and for storage. In 1950 William Lyons made a deal with the Ministry of Supply to take over the factory and by 1951, Jaguar had started the big move from Holbrooks to Browns Lane and full production was up and running by the end of 1952. At first Jaguar built everything on the one site: the XK engine, body construction, paint to full assembly and test. Space was required and in 1960 the Jaguar bought Daimler and moved engine and powertrain to Radford, freeing up space for greater production. The end of the E-type in 1974 meant the end of body production at Browns Lane, with the new XJ-S complete bodies were shipped in from Castle Bromwich with XJ Saloon bodyshells so Browns Lane became exclusively an assembly plant which helped increase output. When Jaguar gained its independence in the 1980s things started to improve for the company with the launch of a new saloon and a return to Le Mans. Jaguar invested in the factory with new Social Club and computer systems but the company needed assistance so in 1989, the decision to sell to Ford was made. With Ford there was a major investment in Browns Lane on production, quality as well as investment in new models.

By the 2000s, it was decided that it didn’t make financial sense for Jaguar to have 3 production sites (Browns Lane, Castle Bromwich and Halewood) as Browns Lane had no body production and was the smallest of the sites, the decision was made to close Browns Lane, with the last cars being built in 2005, a XK8 and XJ (X350) both now part of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Collection. The main factory was cleared in 2008.

The track installed at Browns Lane had been designed to provide the maximum working space around and underneath the car for the employees. There was an elevated area at the beginning which dropped to ground level for the fitting of the trim, followed by a sunken area towards the end for the final under-floor work to be carried out. With the introduction of the new track layout, a new method of zone inspection was also introduced. The track was divided into 12 individual zones and after each zone there was a quality control inspection checkpoint. Any rectification that needed to be carried out was done immediately within the zones and not left until after the assembly process.

Castle Bromwich

As well as the new track at Browns Lane, the body production site at Castle Bromwich, then still part of Pressed Steel Fisher, had new tooling and press shop equipment installed as part of the investment programme. Built in 1938 as a factory to build Spitfires. After the war it was taken over by Fisher & Ludlow to produce car bodies with all the mergers in the 1960s it ended up as Pressed Steel Fisher and part of the British Leyland monster that started producing the bodies for Jaguar amongst others. Castle Bromwich factory was responsible for stamping out the body panels for the XJ-S and building the bodies for the XJ-S. At the time of the XJ-S launch the Body in White (BIW) was shipped to Browns Lane for painting and assembly, when Jaguar started to separate from British Leyland in 1980 it gained control of the Castle Bromwich factory and it became responsible for Jaguars BIW and painting the bodies before shipping them to Browns Lane, first in TPA paint and then in 1986 in COB paint. Castle Bromwich manufactured XJ-S bodies until the end of production and then bodies for the next models. In 1998 Castle Bromwich became a production site with the launch of the S-TYPE and then in 2005 it became Jaguars only production site in the Midlands when Browns Lane closed

With this new process in place, it meant that the quality was continuously monitored and defects were rectified before the final finish. Following Jaguar’s tradition, the XJ-S was subjected to a rigid standing order within the factory and the sixth and final coat of paint was not applied until every car had been thoroughly road tested and declared mechanically sound.