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.

AM magazine provides regular insight into manufacturer networks and dealer groups - to sign up for your magazine please click on the following link to subscribe:

AM also provides a monthly electronic magazine called AMe - this provides the latest analysis of new car sales figures each month and more news - to subscribe to this ezine please click the following link:

You must be logged in - click here to login