In 1980 a new era began at Jaguar with the appointment of John Egan as Chairman and Managing Director. Egan's motor industry career had taken in General Motors (AC Delco), Triumph Cars, Unipart (British Leyland) and others.  Jaguar's quality had not been all that it might have been in the late seventies and Egan's immediate goal was to restore customers' confidence in the British marque.

This he proceeded to do and Jaguar enjoyed a strong resurgence of demand, particularly in the States. Jaguar's style stood the company in good stead and ensured loyalty amongst owners.  However, fuel crises of the seventies had not helped matters and in 1981 Jaguar announced new High Efficiency cylinder heads for the V12 engines. These were based on principles espoused by Swiss engineer Michael May, and Jaguar engineers had spent five years applying them to the V12 engine.  The result was a very healthy decrease in fuel consumption which gave the V12 engined saloon and XJ-S a considerable advantage in the more fuel conscious eighties.

The XJ-S HE was now capable of 155 mph and returning 27 mpg at a steady 56 mph. Also Jaguar could claim that the model was the fastest production car in the world, fitted with automatic transmission.  At this time Jaguar was seeking a new six cylinder unit to replace the venerable XK unit.  It had been intended to build a V8 version of the V12, or even a six cylinder by, as it were, chopping the engine in half.  Neither of these courses turned out to be practical and so a completely new design was embarked upon under the guidance of Engineering Director, Jim Randle and Trevor Crisp, Chief Engineer Power Units. After many experiments, it was decided to offer the new straight six engine with two types of head. The higher performance version would use a four valve arrangement and an economy unit would use the V12's head which benefited from the May principles.

The new engine was named the AJ6 and for Jaguar represented an investment of over £21m. It had a capacity of 3580 cc and was inclined at 158 degrees from the vertical. With the 24 valve head the output was 225 BHP which compared favourably with the current 3.4 litre XK engine which was producing 162 bhp.  Additionally the new AJ6 was around 30% lighter due to the use of an Aluminium block.  The AJ6 was intended for a completely new range of saloons but, in true Jaguar tradition, it was first fitted in a lower volume model launched in September 1983. The six cylinder XJ-S had automatic transmission or a Getrag 5-speed manual gearbox. Sixty miles per hour could be reached in 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 145 mph was possible.  At the same time a new version of the XJ-S also became available. This was the Cabriolet, Jaguar's first open car since the demise of the E-type. Retaining the cantrails, roof pillars and a cross bar, the Cabriolet had two lift off, interlocking roof panels and the option of either a folding rear hood or a fixed rear window. Safety regulations decreed that the XJ-SC was just a two-seater. 

Late in 1982 Group 44 had been given the go-ahead to design and build a sports racing car around the Jaguar V12 engine. The car was built for IMSA racing in the States. Named the XJR-5, the car featured an Aluminium honey-comb monocoque which employed the mid-mounted engine as a stressed member from which was hung the rear suspension. A striking fibreglass body was finished attractively in white with green stripes. The car finished third on its debut at Road Atlanta and won at the same venue in '83. Two further victories followed at Mosport and Pocono, much to the delight of the British racing fans. The following season brought a late decision to enter the Le Mans French classic, as a learning experience. One car retired after damage sustained from a puncture and the second was running in the top six after 18 hours. It sadly succumbed to gearbox maladies.

Back in Britain a new force had appeared on the competition scene. Racing driver, Tom Walkinshaw had prepared an XJ-S for racing in Australia in '82 and had the idea of building a pair of cars for the European Touring Car Championship. The first season brought first and second in the Tourist Trophy Race at Silverstone.  The following year the Jaguars took five wins to BMWs six; weight of numbers telling with around five of the German cars entered for each of the two Jaguars.  Sir William Lyons had merged Jaguar with the British Motor Corporation (later to become BL) in 1966, in the belief that he was safeguarding the future of the company. The reality, however, was that the company suffered a severe loss of identity and image.  The Conservative government, elected in 1979, planned to privatise a number of state-controlled companies, however, and in the early eighties Jaguar began to prepare for privatisation. In August 1984, Jaguar shares were floated on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. The government was keen to encourage public share ownership - and the share offer was oversubscribed eight times.
 
The 1984 season was a good one for Tom Walkinshaw Racing, who had added a third XJ-S to the team. The team dominated the European Championship with a string of wins and Walkinshaw ended the season as the European Champion. Following their emphatic success, TWR were given the task of designing a sports racing car to take on the world and win Le Mans for Jaguar for a sixth time. Teams such as Porsche and Lancia were well established but the British Formula One teams were worldleaders in chassis design and Tony Southgate, an ex-Grand Prix designer, was retained to pen the new XJR-6.  Current Grand Prix cars used the 'ground effects' phenomenon to 'suck' the car down on to the road at higher speeds and Southgate's design made good use of this. Indeed the car was unusual in that the rear wheels were covered by spats to heighten this effect. 

In February 1985, Sir William Lyons passed quietly away at his home, Wappenbury Hall having lived to see his beloved company returned to independence the previous year. The tributes were plentiful and glowing. For fifty years 'he' had been Jaguar and the part he played in the history of the automobile is quite immeasurable.  In July the XJ-S Cabriolet became available with the V12 engine and a few months later the new XJR-6's made their debut at Mosport Park. They finished third, an excellent debut.  It was decided to bring the TWR XJ-S's out of retirement for the prestigious Bathurst 1000 race in Australia in October. The dominant Jaguars finished first and third.  Group 44 debuted a new XJR-7 at the end of '85 and in 1986, in front of the home crowd the team managed two fourths and a string of seconds, this consistency rewarding them with second in the Manufacturers' Championship once again. The TWR team had a fair season taking victory in the Silverstone 1000kms and coming close to achieving the World Championship.

The engineers in Coventry had been working for some time on a saloon replacement. The XJ6 was still selling well which meant that Jaguar could ensure the new car would be really right.  Jaguar consulted several distinguished Italian styling houses but eventually it was Bob Knight who created the initial shape of the XJ40, as the project was entitled.  A number of styling clinics were held with the new designs alongside Jaguar's main rivals. The new designs had little difficulty in scoring more votes than Jaguar's competitors, but the hardest car to beat was the existing Series III and Jaguar learnt from these clinics how important were the traditional materials used inside Jaguars. The Americans were emphatic; the appeal of the Jaguars lay in handcrafted leather upholstery and walnut veneers - British craftsmanship made a Jaguar!

Bob Knight had retired at the beginning of the decade and Jim Randle took over responsibility for engineering, designing a completely new suspension for the car. Prototypes were built and tested in every extreme of climate over a total of 51/2 million miles.  Launched in Europe in late 1986 and in the States in early '87, the new XJ6 met with widespread approval. Offered with the 3.6 litre AJ6 engine and, in Europe, a 2.9 litre version as well, the waiting lists were once more extended. The 3.6 had very lively performance and the new suspension gave superb levels of ride and roadholding.
Either 5-speed manual or automatic transmission could be ordered. The automatic had a novel gear selector, the brainchild of Jim Randle. The 'J' gate allowed the easy and rapid selection of gears for more lively motoring.  Three model derivatives were offered - the XJ6, Sovereign and, top of the range, Daimler. The Series III was not to be completely dropped from the range continuing in V12 engined form for certain markets.  It was appropriate that in the year that the new XJ6 appeared, John Egan was knighted for his vital contribution to Jaguar. An excellent ambassador, he had admirably filled the gap left by Sir William's retirement.  For 1987 the TWR XJR-6 was considerably revised and re-named XJR-8. They were now stiffer, lighter, more powerful and had greater downforce to assist roadholding.

The changes were effective for the Jaguars won the first four rounds of the 1987 Championship. The next round was Le Mans and Southgate produced a body design specifically for the fast French circuit.  Three XJR-8LM's, as they were entitled, were entered but luck was not on their side as a puncture and cracked cylinder head eliminated two of the cars and gearbox problems delayed the third.  Round seven brought a first and third at Brands Hatch, and victory at the Nurburgring in Germany clinched the World Championship for Jaguar who went on to win eight out of the 10 races that year. 

 
The following year the TWR team would be representing the company in the US IMSA series as well as the World Championships.

In May 1988, the XJ-S Cabriolet was replaced by a stylish full Convertible with a power-operated hood fully lined and insulated, which could be raised or lowered in 12 seconds. This hood was fitted with a solid, heated rear window as opposed to the usual flexible type.  As usual with any new Jaguar, there were a great many orders placed immediately and supply struggled to keep pace with demand. The price for the beautiful Convertible was £36,000.  For 1988 the sports racing car was further updated and became the XJR-9. The IMSA cars were sponsored by Castrol and finished in a very smart green, red and white livery, achieved victory at the first event, the Daytona 24 Hours; an excellent start to the season.

Meanwhile the World Championship team began with a second to the Sauber Mercedes at round one, followed by victories for team leaders, Martin Brundle and Eddie Cheever, at Jarama in Spain, Monza in Italy and Silverstone in England.  The Porsches had been dominating Le Mans for several years. TWR countered in 1988 by entering no less than five new XJR-9LM's.  Twenty-five minutes into the race, Dutchman Jan Lammers took the lead in one of the Jaguars. First one Porsche and then another took up the challenge, but to no avail. At half distance, Brundle was lying third in another Jaguar.  After 24 hours of hard racing the XJR-9LM driven by Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace crossed the line to add another victory to the five Jaguar have achieved in the fifties. It was a moment to savour.  The rest of the season went very well and Martin Brundle and Jaguar finished up, respectively, winners of the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships by an emphatic margin.

In 1989 the TWR Jaguars fared rather better in the IMSA series than the World Series. A pair of the new XJR-12s took the first two places in the classic Daytona event and victories followed at Tampa, Portland and Del Mar. Another new car was used for the last two events. The XJR-10 was not fitted with the familiar V12 engine but a twin-turbocharged V6.  For some time the Jaguars had been struggling in the shorter distance events against cars powered by smaller but turbo-charged engines. They had the advantage that they could briefly turn up the turbo boost to increase power. Thus TWR developed the XJR-10 for sprint type events but continued to use the V12 engined XJR-12s for the long distance endurance races like Daytona and Le Mans.

In September 1989, Jaguar announced considerable enhancements to the XJ6 range. The fundamental change was an enlarging of the 3.6 litre AJ6 engine to 4 litres. This new 235 BHP engine would accept either leaded or unleaded petrol and gave a 14% improvement in torque. This was reflected in the 0-60 mph times reducing from 7.4 seconds to 7.1, and a top speed now of 140 mph for the manual model.  For the 4.0 litre models, a new electronically controlled, programme switchable, 4-speed automatic transmission was developed to cope with the increased torque of the 3,980 cc, 24 valve power unit. A new Teves Anti-lock braking system was adopted for the 1990 models.  Some significant changes were made to the interior. A new instrument pack was designed and featured conventional analogue main dials and minor gauges.

In introducing the new 4.0 litre, Sir John Egan stressed the extent of the changes which resulted in what he liked to describe as a 'world class car'.  "I believe our latest 4.0 litre is essentially a new generation XJ6 - the effect of the changes is that fundamental. We have enjoyed great success with the XJ6 range since launch, but our mission is one of constant improvement. I think the  4.0 litre is evidence that we are succeeding in that mission, and it has been achieved by listening to customers and setting ourselves ever stiffer targets."  It was as well that Jaguar had not rested on its laurels for the luxury car market was becoming an increasingly competitive one.  Though the company had a fine range of products, the management increasingly realised that to meet the challenge of the nineties and beyond, it would be necessary to have the backing of one of the automotive giants behind the scenes. Without Jaguar losing its essential identity and relative autonomy, there were a myriad of minor, but important, ways in which a benevolent parent could assist.