William Lyons

The XK engine was completed in 1948 and launched in a (supposedly) one-off concept sports car to help draw attention to it. The first "Jaguar" model was offered in 1935 and after WW2 Lyons changed the company name to Jaguar to avoid the unfortunate connotations with the Nazi "SS". His health declined fairly rapidly in retirement but happily he did live long enough to witness a remergence of sorts of his company under John Egan.

Sir William Lyons (4 September 1901 – 8 February 1985) known as "Mr. Jaguar" was with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley the co-founder in 1922 of the Swallow Sidecar Company which became Jaguar Cars Limited after the Second World War.