At the moment the Halewood plant is in summer shutdown mode for two weeks with workers due to go back on Monday still awaiting a government decision on whether it will back JLR by acting as guarantor for the European loans

But news emerged yesterday that business secretary Lord Mandelson is himself going on holiday for a week. The government has already committed a separate £27m for development costs. Jobs depend on a positive outcome as the X-Type is due to cease production at the end of the year and the Freelander 2 alone will not require the 2,000 currently employed on site.

Professor David Bailey, of Coventry Business School, said: “JLR will get through this, but the question is in what state. If it falls behind in research and development it damages the firm, and ultimately that’s what killed off MG Rover.

“It will get through the recession, but it’s no good if it’s too small. Longer term it really depends on how well the products sell and what new products there are.

“The lack of research and development at MG Rover was a huge issue. It’s got to be sorted out pretty quickly too, a deal has got to be put in place by the end of the summer.

“Hopefully a new lightweight Range Rover, the LRX, will replace the X-type at Halewood but a decision on that has yet to be made, and progress depends critically on the British government providing a loan guarantee to access the European investment bank loan.”

There have been acrimonious exchanges between JLR’s Indian owner Tata and business secretary Lord Mandelson over how the affair has been handled.

The two sides last met on Friday over a sticking point that the government wants to be able to modify the JLR business plan.

A spokesman for JLR said a decision is still awaited, adding: ”Mr Tata has indicated that the money from the European bank to be underwritten by the government is for the development of models such as the LRX and the hybrid Jaguar XJ.”