--- title: Jaguar · HICONIUM description: Le Mans glory in the fifties — and the fastest car in the world in 1992. canonical_url: https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/jaguar image: https://hiconium.com/og/marque/jaguar.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.com/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.com/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) › Jaguar > On this page: [The essential Jaguars](#the-essential-jaguars) · [Every Jaguar on file](#every-jaguar-on-file) · [Le Mans Era](#le-mans-era) · [E-Type Era](#e-type-era) · [Modern Supercar](#modern-supercar) · [Jaguar's collector hierarchy follows the transfer of racing structures into road cars.](#jaguars-collector-hierarchy-follows-the-transfer-of-racing-structures-into-road-cars) · [The cat that outlived the name.](#the-cat-that-outlived-the-name) ![Jaguar — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/jaguar.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) [Manufacturers  /  Jaguar](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) # Jaguar Coventry, England · est. 1935 Jaguar's collector hierarchy follows the transfer of racing structures into road cars. Jaguar's collector thread runs from the D-Type and XKSS to the XJ220's aluminium construction. Chassis identity and original structure separate important cars from modified examples. Models 4 Top value €12M Period 1935– [Explore models](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/jaguar#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/jaguar#house-profile) ![Jaguar — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/jaguar.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) Curated entry points ## The essential Jaguars Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition. [1954–1957 ### D-Type Three Le Mans wins — the monocoque racer with the tail fin. Collectibility 97 / 100 Indicative value €7.5M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/d-type) [1957 ### XKSS The road-going D-Type — 16 built, McQueen provenance. Collectibility 98 / 100 Indicative value €12M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/xkss) [1992–1994 ### XJ220 Fastest car in the world in 1992 — 275 built, appreciating hard. Collectibility 87 / 100 Indicative value €600k](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/xj220) Complete catalogue ## Every Jaguar on file 4 models · 3 families By family Sort Filter ## Le Mans Era 2 The works racers that won Le Mans three years running, and the sixteen road-registered XKSS conversions that followed — the pinnacle of British 1950s motorsport. [1954–1957 · 3 variants D-Type Three Le Mans wins — the monocoque racer with the tail fin. €7.5M 97 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/d-type) [1957 · 2 variants XKSS The road-going D-Type — 16 built, McQueen provenance. €12M 98 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/xkss) ## E-Type Era 1 Malcolm Sayer's calculated ellipses over a monocoque and front subframe taken straight from the D-Type — about 72'500 built across three series, sold for a third of a Ferrari's price. [1961–1974 · 3 variants E-Type Sayer's aerodynamic shape for the road — in MoMA since 1996. €180k 96 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/e-type) ## Modern Supercar 1 Jaguar’s one true supercar — fastest production car of its day, built in Bloxham in a short, turbulent run that makes survivors genuinely rare. [1992–1994 · 2 variants XJ220 Fastest car in the world in 1992 — 275 built, appreciating hard. €600k 45 sales · median $473.65K 87 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/jaguar/xj220) The house ## Jaguar's collector hierarchy follows the transfer of racing structures into road cars. Jaguar won Le Mans five times in the 1950s, and the D-Type took three of them — an aviation-inspired monocoque with a tail fin, built when aerodynamics was still an act of faith. When the racing programme ended, Sir William Lyons converted the unsold D-Types into road cars: the XKSS, sixteen built before the Browns Lane fire destroyed the rest. Steve McQueen’s example made it the most famous Jaguar in the world. The XJ220 arrived in 1992 as the fastest production car on earth — 349 km/h from a twin-turbo V6 in a body like a land-bound aircraft. Undervalued for decades, it is now appreciating harder than almost any car of its era. Founded 1935 The SS Jaguar name first appeared on a new saloon in October 1935; Jaguar Cars became the corporate name in 1945. XJ220 output 275 cars Jaguar's factory retrospective gives 275 for 1992-1994; the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust gives 281, so the total depends on accounting. Defining structure Aluminium monocoque The D-Type used a stressed central tub with a separate front frame, reducing weight and frontal area. 2016 auction result $21.78 million The 1956 Le Mans-winning D-Type XKD 501 sold at RM Sotheby's Monterey auction. Selected milestones ### A bloodline, not a list. 1. 1935 The Jaguar name appears The SS Jaguar saloon introduces the name; the company adopts Jaguar Cars as its corporate identity in 1945. 2. 1948 The XK line begins The XK120 launches Jaguar's twin-cam straight-six and a road-car family that will supply its competition programme. 3. 1954 The D-Type changes the structure Jaguar replaces a full tubular frame with a central aluminium monocoque and develops the body around high-speed stability. 4. 1957 D-Type becomes XKSS Jaguar approves 25 road conversions, but the Browns Lane fire destroys nine unfinished cars and fixes original XKSS output at sixteen. 5. 1988 XJ220 shown as a concept Jaguar presents a V12, four-wheel-drive concept developed by a small internal team and receives enough demand to approve production. 6. 1992 XJ220 reaches customers The production car arrives with a shorter aluminium structure, twin-turbo V6 and rear-wheel drive, materially different from the concept. What defines Jaguar ### Transfer racing engineering Jaguar develops brakes, structures and aerodynamics in competition, then carries the useful parts into road cars. ### Build around light structures The D-Type's alloy tub and the XJ220's bonded aluminium honeycomb chassis put structural efficiency ahead of engine size alone. ### Convert selectively for road use The XKSS adds road equipment without replacing the D-Type beneath it, while the XJ220 retains touring trim around a high-speed package. The mark ## The cat that outlived the name. Blackpool, 1922: William Lyons and William Walmsley build sidecars under a winged roundel. Cars follow, then a better name — SS Jaguar from 1935 — until the war makes the initials unspeakable. In 1945 the shareholders vote, and only the cat remains. The leaper began as an insult: Lyons saw an aftermarket mascot on a customer’s car and called it a cat shot off a fence. Publicity man Bill Rankin, an amateur sculptor, made a first attempt; illustrator F. Gordon Crosby got the leap right in 1938, sold through dealers at two guineas. It has outlasted every wordmark since. Leaper: F. Gordon Crosby, 1938 · after a first attempt by publicity chief Bill Rankin ![Jaguar crest, 1922–1935](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-1922.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1922–1935 Sidecars first — Lyons and Walmsley’s winged Swallow roundel. ![Jaguar crest, 1935–1945](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-1935.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1935–1945 SS Jaguar: the cat name arrives above the hexagon. ![Jaguar crest, 1945–1951](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-1945.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1945–1951 The initials go — shareholders vote SS off the badge in 1945. ![Jaguar crest, 1982–2001](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-1982.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1982–2001 The wordmark in British Racing Green — type carries the brand. ![Jaguar crest, 2012–2021](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-2012.png.w1920.q75.webp) 2012–2021 Crosby’s leaper, polished to metal, becomes the logo itself. ![Jaguar crest, 2021–2024](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/jaguar/logo-2021.png.w1920.q75.webp) 2021–2024 Flattened for screens — the leaper’s last cut before the 2024 rebrand.