Jaguar and Land Rover are offering voluntary redundancy terms to 300 administrative staff at Halewood, Castle Bromwich, Gaydon, Warwickshire and Whitley in Coventry.

The news follows confirmation that Jaguar’s year-to-August sales in the US were 34% down year-on-year.

Ironically, Bibiana Boerio, Jaguar’s chief executive, has been named Harpers and Chanel Businesswoman of the Year. The judges said: "Charged with guaranteeing a long-term future for the car firm, Bibie had to implement a brave strategy".

Boerio succeeded Mike Wright at Jaguar in July last year having previously served as Ford’s finance and strategy director of international operations. Before that post she was Jaguar's finance director from 1995 to 2000.