Tata is still confident it made the right decision to buy Jaguar and Land Rover despite losing a total of £281 million while in charge of the brands in its first 10 months of ownership.

Ratan Tata, Tata chairman, told the Birmingham Post: "We are going through a downturn today that has unfortunately somewhat condemned Jaguar and Land Rover in perception; that perception is very wrong."

Thousands of salaried employees at JLR that have their pay arranged to be given in the middle of the month have now been asked to delay wage payments until the end of each month.

Tata said this would help smooth out cashflow across both brands.