37 Glorious pictures of Glorious Jaguars

The process has already begun with the reveal of a new brand identity that made some serious waves and sparked debate and comment from Elon Musk, among many others.

It’s perhaps a good time to remember that Jaguars has often been the centre of attention by making some seriously beautiful cars over the years, so we’ve had a good look in our archive for some of the best photos of some of the best Jaguars we could find. Enjoy!

Production dates are included - cars are in chronological order

This model was launched at the 1948 London motor show alongside the glamorous XK120 sports car. Power came from a straight-six – 2.5-litre or 3.5-litre. 10,499 were built. A very stately Jaguar.

The car that announced to the world that Jaguar was back. Its brand-new XK straight-six engine – which delivered a healthy 160bhp - was very advanced for the time, which helped give it a very long production life of 43 years. This particular XK120 is very special – it’s one of just six lightweight alloy versions built for racing. It nearly won the Le Mans race in 1950; it was in second place after 15 hours and was gaining on the leaders when the clutch failed.

We think it still looks fantastic; 12,055 were made.

This car was a development of the Mk5, but was now equipped with the new XK engine from the XK120. From 1952 it became the first Jaguar to be available with automatic transmission. It proved very successful, with nearly 31,000 produced.

This racing model was built from the chassis of the XK120 but with a lightweight tubular frame, and with its XK engine boosted to 205bhp. It won the Le Mans race twice; just 53 were built, with 43 sold to private buyers, mostly in America.

The car’s rarity has led them to become very valuable, with them selling at auction for around $3 million each.

It may have looked similar to the XK120 and XK150, but the XK150 was a major upgrade, with a wider body and posher interior; power was increased to 190bhp, with a healthy 265bhp becoming available in 1959 when the XK engine was extended to a 3.8-litre.

The XK120 coupe is a pretty car, but when the designers of Bertone got hold of it, it surely became a beauty.

With its large glass area, 12-inch Dunlop discs and wider rear track, this was a pretty, stable and safe mid-size Jaguar. Like the XK150 it also got the extended 3.8 XK engine, that gave it a top speed of 126mph.

This luxury saloon properly took Jaguar into the pace, grace and space era like no previous model. And we love this picture of a late model 420G, taken in a racier part of London’s Soho…

A 420G on the road, with presence…

The E-Type (sold as the XK-E in America) is probably the most famous Jaguar and probably its most desirable. But don’t take our word for it, ask Jaguar’s competitors from then and now. Enzo Ferrari apparently said it was the most beautiful car ever made, while Elon Musk recently said it was certainly one of the most beautiful, on X.com.

Jaguar rationalised its rather complicated large saloon range into the new XJ series, launched in 1968. A new 5.3-litre V12 engine arrived in 1972 to make the XJ12, and it was also placed into a new top-of-the-range Daimler model the next year, named Double Six. It was the fastest four-seat production car in the world at the time, with a top speed of 140mph. Fuel economy however can best be described as frightening…

Following up the E-Type was never going to be an easy task, and the design of the XJ-S divided opinion. Still, with the right colour and in the right location we reckon it looks pretty good even with today’s eyes.

Work began on a new XJ back in the 1970s, but the XJ40 was a long time coming. When it did finally arrive it was a much more sophisticated car than its predecessor, but still looked every inch a Jaguar.

Equipped with a 750bhp 7.0-litre V12 and built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the XJR-9 won the 1988 Le Mans race.

Unveiled as a V12 four-wheel-drive concept car in 1988, the XJ220 arrived as a production model in 1992 with a twin-turbo V6 and two-wheel-drive, alongside a horrendous recession that dented the appetite for such cars. We reckon its looks are just as good today as back then, and it was briefly the fastest production car in the world, with a top speed of 217 mph.

It’s pictured here in front of the Sydney Opera House, in Australia.

It may have been unlucky in many ways, but the XJ220 still did great things for the image of Jaguar, which since 1989 had been owned by Ford.

The XJS had been in production for nearly 20 years and was becoming seriously out-dated despite a major facelift in 1991. The XK8 was warmly received as a seriously beautiful car – and obviously a Jaguar - when it was unveiled in 1996.

The car was much more advanced than the XJS, and was even one of the first cars to be equipped with adaptive cruise control, in 2000.

Making a formal follow up to the E-Type was always on Jaguar’s mind and chief designer Geoff Lawson began to work on it in 1998. However he died suddenly in 1999, and the project was completed by Ian Callum. It triggered great excitement when unveiled at the 2000 Detroit motor show, but Ford told Jaguar it could have a production F-Type or a Formula One team, but not both.

Jaguar chose F1, but sadly this wasn’t very successful, and it was sold to Red Bull in 2004.

Jaguar’s long-awaited rival to the 3 Series was never as successful or loved as much as Jaguar would have liked. Still, this photo reminds us that with the right colour, the right wheels and the right grille it could still turn heads.

Inspired by the S Type saloon then in production, this retro concept car was unveiled at the 2001 Frankfurt motor show. It was the first of many Jaguars to be fully designed by Ian Callum.

It may have looked like XJs from the past, but the X350 was an all-new design. Built mainly in aluminium, it was very light for its size which gave it often surprisingly good fuel economy. Though probably not when driven like this. This is the XJR version, which featured a 4.2-litre supercharged V8 engine, that delivered 395bhp.

Seen as rather old-fashioned when launched, we reckon the design has aged very well.

Ian Callum designed the new XK, and not only was it a great looking car, it was also a delight to drive as well. A grand tourer in concept, it could still be a lot of fun to drive on country roads, as this photo shows only too well.

Jaguar had clearly concluded that the retro design theme was not helping it when faced with the sharp and modern designs of its German rivals, so with its follow-up to the S Type - to be called XF - it decided to go in a new direction entirely.

Designed by Ian Callum, the concept car that previewed the XF was called C-XF, and it wowed the crowds when it was unveiled at the 2007 Detroit motor show. The most beautiful Jaguar concept car ever made? Quite possibly.

While not as pretty as the concept car, the production XF was still a handsome machine, and clearly a much more modern car than the S Type. Few customers realised or cared that the new car featured the same platform as its predecessor.

This concept car stunned the crowds when it was unveiled at the 2010 Paris motor show. Another design from Ian Callum, it featured four electric motors driving each wheel, using batteries recharged from gas turbines. Sadly the recession following the financial crisis meant the car never made production, though it did later feature in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre.

52 years after the E-Type was unveiled Jaguar finally delivered its formal successor, the F-Type. Available as a two-seat coupe and cabriolet, it was another confident design from Ian Callum, though it wasn’t quite the crowd-stopper of the earlier car.

An estate version of the XF arrived with the facelift of the XF in 2012, and in 2014 Jaguar unveiled an ultra high-performance version, the Sportbrake XF-RS, with a 542bhp V8 engine and 186mph top speed. Just 100 were built.

Jaguar re-entered the compact luxury space in 2015 with the XE, but sadly it proved (another) false dawn for the brand as it never competed successfully with rivals from Audi and BMW. Still, as with our previous picture of the X-Type, with the right wheels and colour it could still look great.

With the F-Pace Jaguar finally entered the fast growing SUV space in 2016, and it was a compelling car, which combined good looks with decent handling, and with help from its friends at Land Rover, was pretty decent off the road as well.

Jaguar couldn’t ignore the rise of electric cars, and Ian Callum fully embraced the packaging possibilities of an electric car with his handsome I-Pace. The car is enjoying an interesting life as the main vehicle used by Google’s Waymo, which operates autonomous taxis in a test programme in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, in the USA.

As important as the cars are the people that made them. In this picture from 2018, Ian Callum jokes with 97-year-old Norman Dewis, who was chief test driver for Jaguar between 1952 and 1985. Dewis died in 2019.

India’s Tata Motors acquired Jaguar (with Land Rover) from Ford in 2008, and this was the idea of Tata’s chief Ratan Tata. The company then went on to supply investment for new models. Here he’s pictured with the XK120 and the XF. Mr Tata died in October 2024, aged 86.

And now Jaguar heads to a new, all-electric future. We’ve always loved Jaguars at Autocar and we wish it the best of luck.

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