Ford is expected to announce today the creation of a single management board controlling Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin.

The role of this board will be to co-ordinate purchasing, finance and logistics for each subsidiary and introduce development and component sharing.

It is understood that this single-board strategy was the catalyst for Jonathan Browning's decision to quit his job as Jaguar's managing director, fearing it would weaken the focus on the brand at a time when it is planning to double output to 200,000 vehicles a year.

But Wolfgang Reitzle, chief executive of Ford's Premier Automotive Group - which contains the three UK companies plus Volvo, Lincoln and Mercury, said “the brands will not be compromised”.

Mr Reitzle is to be chairman and chief executive of the strategy board, with Bob Dover, Land Rover chief executive, its chief operating officer.

The board will oversee a purchasing budget of about £6.5 billion a year, a workforce of 23,000 and an annual investment of £1 billion in product development.