The plant - once the largest tractor factory in the world - closed in 2003

The city's business leaders are convinced the area will absorb the job losses and most people will find other work.

However, they also fear many workers will take early retirement - and remove themselves from the skills pool on offer in the city.

Their warning came after their experience in the wake of the closure of Coventry's Massey Ferguson factory.

Warwickshire chamber of commerce's Dianne Williams led a task force to help around 1,000 workers made redundant by the closure of the tractor factory in Banner Lane, Coventry, last year.

We have an ageing population some people are not coming back into the workforce so the skills potential is being lost Dianne Williams, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce

She said: "We have an ageing population some people are not coming back into the workforce so the skills potential is being lost.

"What is difficult to tell is the long term effect. When we have lost these skills, is it going to have a long term impact?"

However, Ms Williams, who is director of operations at Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said the result was that current unemployment figures were low.

"The number of unemployed people in Coventry, given the loss of all these major companies is not going up - it has continued to go down.

"People are reskilling and new jobs are coming in."

She said having learned lessons from each plant closure, the task force were successful in ensuring the end of Massey Ferguson did not devastate the area's economy.

"We did quite well, it was well managed," she said.

What Coventry has built on is that it has always been able to reinvent itself, we have got a knowledge base and flexible and innovative people Dianne Williams

"We went in with one-to-one counselling, offering individual advice, but it was also important to work with the company as well."

She said one idea was taking suppliers on a trip to Beauvais, in France - where the company also has a plant - to open them up to new markets.

And she said the Massey Ferguson example would now be used to shape their handling of the Jaguar closure, hopefully with government support.

"With the loss of the major Jaguar brand we must not talk down our area but rather stress the positives we can do," she said.

"What Coventry has built on is that it has always been able to reinvent itself, we have got a knowledge base and flexible and innovative people who find new niches and new technologies.

"I hope we will be able to be involved at the highest level with Jaguar and manage the processes of going forward and finding new opportunities."