1990: Barbie, Ford and Le Mans
January
Just when Sir John Egan thought he had arrived at a suitable deal with General Motors, Ford announced that they were purchasing Jaguar shares. The following morning the Chairman for Ford of Europe, Lindsay Halstead, and Ford’s negotiating team met with the Jaguar Board to discuss terms for a full takeover. This was subsequently approved by shareholders of Jaguar plc in a meeting on 1 December 1989, and the merger took effect in early 1990. Jaguar had once again lost its independence and was now to become part of a larger manufacturer. Egan left soon after the merger, and Ford appointed Bill Hayden instead. A casualty of the take-over was that the XJ41/42 project for a sports car to replace the XJ-S. The XJ-S soldiered on.
Jaguar took the option to introduce the “Collection Claret” model, again only for the American market. This new version was based around the 1990 model year XJ-S V12 Coupé. The Claret had the same specification as the Rouge but now included Regency Red body colour, Magnolia interior trim with Mulberry leather piping (front and rear seats) and Wine Red carpets. By March it was still not ready due to the inability to obtain the unique parts required to compliment the stylish looks intended, so the decision was made to cancel the Claret.
August
Another special edition was the “Classic Collection”. The Convertible commenced production on the 27 August 1990 and the coupe on 3 September 1990. The specifications for this model were based around the 1990 model year XJ-S and the interior details included: Champagne carpets with Magnolia interior trim, Rattan carpets with the Doeskin interior trim, and Smoke Grey carpets with Warm Charcoal or Isis Blue interior trim, Warm Charcoal steering wheel, Burr elm veneer (carry-over from XJ-S Collection Rouge). External details included: limited to six body colours – Black, Glacier White, Brooklands Green, Signal Red, metallic Diamond Blue and metallic Oyster and special boot and bonnet badges. All models destined for the American market were built to the Classic Collection specification. The Classic Collection was released for sale on the 3 October 1990.
September
A new four-spoke, five position tilt non-air bag steering wheel with thick centre pad and gold on black badge. USA cars had a driver's air bag as standard, which looked similar but had an embossed growler.
October
The XJ-S “Le Mans V12” limited edition was announced at the Birmingham Motor Show to celebrate the 1990 win, with a production run of only 280 units. It was mechanically a standard 5.3 litre XJ-S Coupé, the only visible difference was the trim featuring American style quad headlamps, a Gold growler badge on the bonnet, a Unique Le Mans V12 boot badge, Twin gold coachlines. The cost for the Le Mans V12 was £38,700.
Mattel, the toy manufacturer, approached Jaguar and asked if they could produce an XJ-S model for Barbie to give her an elegant sporty new car. As part of the marketing campaign a life-size Barbie XJ-S was created. A pre-production V12 left-hand drive prototype that had been used for various development purposes and as a press car was destined to become Barbie Pink. It was brought up-to-date to represent the current range and was the first ever XJ-S produced with a colour-keyed windscreen surround. It was never meant to be used it was never registered for road use. Even before its life with Barbie the car had an interesting life. One press shoot took place in the Caribbean and whilst the production team took a lunch break, they returned to find a freak storm had hit and the XJ-S was full of water because they hadn’t put the hood up before taking their lunch break. As a result, the car was returned to Jaguar to be totally stripped to get rid of the sea weed. At another photography session in Yugoslavia it was stored in a basement that was bombed and Jaguar thought the car had been destroyed – not so. It turned up at Jaguar’s Browns Lane site a few months later where it was destined for the scrap heap before Barbie saved it! . The Barbie XJ-S is owned by and exhibited at Coventry Transport Museum.
November
Venture Pressings Limited (VPL) supplied Jaguar with panels for the facelift XJS and XJ40 models. VPL was formed in February 1988 as a joint venture between Jaguar and GKN Sankey. The factory in Telford, Shropshire was formally opened on 1st November 1990, ramping up to full production of body panels by January 1991. Around £40 million had been invested in the new company, GKN supplied the expertise and knowledge in press work operations and Jaguar was responsible for the provision of tooling (moulds that are used in the presses to form the body panels). This mainly consisted of the tool transfer from Karmann in Germany and Rover Group in Swindon.
December
At the end of 1990 all V12 cars were fitted with a catalytic converter, previously only found on models destined for the American market. After complaints that the XJ-S was falling behind in driver comfort, slight alterations were made some of these included: A new four-spoke, five position tilt non-air bag steering wheel with thick centre pad and gold on black badge, New indicator and wiper stalks with illuminated graphics were introduced, The Tibbe ignition, starter switch and steering lock were moved to the steering column.
An all-time record 11, 213 cars were produced in 1989 and there was a fall to 9227 cars in 1990.