Ford are in the process of a massive campaign of restructuring. The company are introducing a swathe of new measures to their car manufacturing industry, with the aim of restoring profitability to the troubled car giant.

The number of jobs to go could top 10,000, beyond the 30,000 cuts already planned. The measures will slash Ford’s annual costs by approximately $5billion, with the aim of becoming profitable again by 2009.

The firm have not sold Jaguar as yet, and only the Aston Martin brand remains up for sale. An American analyst said: They've got to get profitable at 14pc market share so these cuts need to be ahead of the curve. [Ford's lowered market share forecast] gives me some confidence that they're at least coming clean here.

The company have appointed Alan Mulally, a former executive at Boeing, to succeed Bill Ford Jr. as chief executive.

One of the last profitable divisions within the company has been the Ford Motor Credit Finance unit. Car finance in the UK remains popular, despite an increasing trend to choose second-hand cars.