Sir William Lyons (born 1901, died 1985) was a British automobile designer and the founder of the Jaguar car company.
He set up the Swallow Sidecar Company with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley in 1922, to produce motorcycle sidecars. The first car was the SS1 of 1931. The company name changed to SS Cars Ltd. in 1933, and the first "Jaguar" model was offered in 1935. The company changed its name to Jaguar after WW2 because of the unfortunate connotations of the "SS" name.
Lyons retired in 1972.
