The halting of production at Jaguar's Browns Lane factory in Coventry, the birthplace of the British motor industry, marks the end of an era.
Much of the plant - which has featured prominently in the luxury maker's history - was destroyed in a disastrous fire in 1957, only six years after it was opened. But once it was rebuilt, Browns Lane went on to manufacture some of the world's most distinctive sports cars.
The sleek E-type Jaguar, one of the company's most successful cars, which became a symbol of the swinging 60s, was manufactured there, as was the "executives' favourite", the XJ6.
The first model to bear the Jaguar name - the SS Jaguar two-litre sports sedan - rolled off the production line in September 1935. William Lyons, who began his career in the motor industry by assembling motorcycle sidecars in a Blackpool garage, at first resisted the name Jaguar, when it was suggested by advertisers.
However, Lyons eventually agreed, and new cars would be known as SS Jaguars. With typical showmanship, he arranged a lunch at the Mayfair hotel, in London, at which the new sedan was launched to the press a few days before the 1935 motor show.
The SS Jaguar was unveiled to much favourable comment, and the assembled company were asked to guess its price. The average guess was £632, but the actual price of the SS100, regarded by many as a pre-war classic, was only £395.
Jaguar survived the difficult economic climate of the late 30s, gaining a reputation for excellence and quality with a succession of stylish models, including the 1938 XK120, named on the car's top speed - the world's fastest production car at the time.
In 1966, Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation, but ran into financial difficulties. It was taken over in 1968, and became British Leyland. Privatisation followed in 1984, before Ford bought the company in for £1.6bn in 1989.
Browns Lane, one of three Jaguar production sites in the UK, currently employs around 2,500 people, making XJ saloon cars and XK sports vehicles. All three sites have recently been under-producing, prompting calls from some quarters to centralise production or transfer it to sites abroad.
