French car giant Peugeot-Citroen is to end production at one of its main UK factories with the loss of 2,300 jobs.
The factory at Ryton in Coventry will stop making the Peugeot 206 model next year.
The decision was given to union officials who had been summoned to a meeting with company bosses.
Union sources said they had been fearing bad news but expressed shock at the scale of the announcement.
Thousands of other jobs depend on the Ryton factory and the decision is yet another blow to the car industry in the West Midlands following last year's collapse of MG Rover.
The Ryton factory was built in 1939 and manufactured aero engines in support of the war effort.
The site was converted to a car factory in 1946 when the Rootes Group, comprising Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam and Talbot, started producing the Sunbeam-Talbot.
Production of the Peugeot 306 ended at Ryton in 1999 and the plant's future rested with the 206.
Derek Simpson, general secretary of the Amicus union, said: "This is disastrous news for British manufacturing. It is inconceivable that workers in France would be laid off on this scale. Weak UK labour laws are allowing British workers to be sacrificed at the expense of a flexible labour market."
The union said there would be an "enormous" impact on the local economy, estimating that every job at Ryton sustained another three in service firms.