E-Type Jaguar 50 Years Young

The Jaguar E-Type is 50 years old this year. It was my favourite car when I was a lad. The style was amazing back then, and it still looks good today. Class is like that, it has style that doesn't date. The E-Type is a permanent exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Enzo Ferrari stated it was “the most beautiful car in the world.” Says it all really.


Production figures I have found at wikipedia.org under Jaguar E-Type are as follows:

Series 1	61-68	38,419
Series 2	69-71	18,809
Series 3	71-75	15,287
E-Type	Total	72,515

A fantastic car in every sense, a true classic. I think the XK does a good job of continuing the Jaguar tradition of fine sport cars.


Pics: www.netcarshow.com/jaguar/1971-e-type/

UK's Net Car Production: 2010

Many nations do not make cars, but simply import them. That makes them a 100% net importer. Of the car making nations, they vary as to whether they are a net importer or exporter of cars.

Taking the UK as an example, it imports more cars than it makes, thereby becoming a net importer. On average for the last ten years, the UK has imported about 35% more than what it has exported. It could have been more so, except that as its own industry declined, Japanese firms opened up factories to compensate. Those Japanese firms have shown loyalty to those production facilities too. This is in contrast to Peugeot, who having bought the once Rootes Group/ Chrysler operation, later built factories in low wage countries and shut it down. That is how PSA treat a country loyal to its product. Hmmm.

So who are the main contributors to UK car making? Below there is the number of cars made, number sold in the UK under that brand and then finally the difference. If the last figure is positive, that brand is a net exporter (in bold type), if it is negative, a net importer (in italicised type):

Brand-Production-UK Sales-Net
1 Nissan 423,000 80,000 333,000
2 MINI 216,000 40,000 174,000
3 Land Rover 183,000 37,000 146,000
4 Honda 139,000 64,000 75,000
5 Toyota 137,000 87,000 50,000
6 Jaguar 56,000 16,000 40,000
7 Vauxhall 103,000 247,000 –144,000
Total 1,270,000 2,031,000 –761,000

Also to be noted is that the UK is a large car engine making country too. So if you applied the same system to that, it comes up quite different.

For 2010, the UK made 2,387,000 car engines, so exported more engines than were in cars sold in that country. That makes the UK a net exporter of engines to the tune of 356,000 units, or put another way, 17.5% more were exported than were sold in cars. I hope my figures make sense.

I have yet to get a breakdown of engines made by company for 2010, but in 2009, Ford made 1,430,000 in the UK, BMW 362,000, Nissan 109,000, Toyota 89,000, Honda 60,000 (the main contributors).

Summary: Although not what it used to be, the UK car industry is still doing well, including quite a bit of design work too.

Source: Mainly SMMT.

Photo: Celebrating 6,000,000 Nissans built in the UK. Model shown the new UK designed and built Juke.

The Triumph Car Company

A car company I really liked was Triumph. It started life in the 1920s as an offshoot of the motorbike firm of the same name. It went into receivership and was bought by Standard Motor Company in 1944. From 1953, Triumph made some great sports cars. And in 1959, the Triumph Herald car came out. It was a lightweight car with independent suspension, good for going over speed bumps I recall. Leyland became the owner at the end of 1960. The last of the marque was the Acclaim from 1981, basically a Honda but a good car nevertheless. In 1984 it was replaced by the Rover 200.

Below are models, years made and production of Triumph cars of the Leyland era, including those that overlapped from Standard ownership:


TR3/3a 56-63 71,600
Herald/Vitesse 59-71 570,000
TR4/5 61-69 71,700
Spitfire 62-80 309,600
2000/2500 63-77 267,300
1300/1500/Toledo/Dolomite 65-81 501,400

GT6 66-73 40,900
TR6 68-76 91,900
Stag 70-77 25,900
TR7/8 75-81 115,000
Acclaim 81-84 133,600

List Total 56-84 2,200,000

The name is today owned by BMW, who surely could do something with it, maybe a range of British built sporty cars, but somehow I doubt it. The marque will probably stay in its moribund state. Shame.

My personal favorite: So many to choose from, but the Dolomite Sprint for me.

To read about UK sales for Triumph, please click here.