The takeover of Daimler and its eventual ‘badge engineering’ by Jaguar was an ironic twist of fate, echoing as it did the fate of the respected Lanchester name when taken over by Daimler in 1931. There were important differences, however.
Jaguar did not place the Daimler into the market as a downmarket Jaguar, and did not allow the name to die when it was no longer expedient; to the contrary, it elevated the marque to the top of the range, and there it stayed into the 21st century.
In addition, Jaguar developed a unique Daimler DS-420 Limousine (based on the Jaguar 420G floorpan and engine) and kept this elegant and imposing machine in production from 1968 until the early 1990s. The Limousine carried stylish coachwork by Vanden Plas, which echoed the sweeping lines of the Hooper Daimler Empress of nearly two decades earlier. The late Queen Mother was a particular fan of the DS-420, and owned the first and last examples made.
However it must be said that, except for the DS-420 limousine, Daimler products were, from 1969, simply badge-engineered Jaguars. The first 420 Sovereign (produced alongside the V8 Daimlers from 1966) was followed in 1969 by the first of the elegant XJ-series cars, whose basic styling carried both marques through to the early 2000s.
For the brief period in the 1980s the company decided to rename its top-line export models Jaguar Sovereigns, primarily because of the low recognition factor of Daimler in the important US market. Fortunately, wiser heads eventually prevailed, and it again became possible to buy a Daimler Sovereign in Australia.
Along the way, another famous Daimler name was resurrected: the Daimler version of the Jaguar V12, introduced in 1971, was immediately dubbed the ‘Double Six’, echoing the name of Daimler’s famous sleeve-valve V12 of the 1930s.
Daimler and Jaguar were absorbed into the Ford empire in 1989 and then sold to the Indian-based Tata in 2008. The Daimler name survived, but there was little apart from badging and trim to distinguish the marque from its XJ40 feline stablemates. Nothing ever came of hopes for a small Daimler V8 version of the 1990s S-Series Jaguar and the attractive Corsica convertible variant of the X300 never made it past prototype stage.
The luxurious Super Eight, a stretched version of the Jaguar X308, was produced in strictly limited numbers until 2009. History may record it as the last car to wear the Daimler badge. However, there are rumours that Tata may develop an ultra-premuim new Daimler model to again compete with Rolls-Royce and Bentley. We’ll have to wait and see …
TP, TC
