JLR restarts production following September hack

“This week marks an important moment for JLR and all our stakeholders as we now restart our manufacturing operations following the cyber incident,” said JLR CEO Adrian Mardell. 

“From tomorrow, we will welcome back our colleagues at our engine production plant in Wolverhampton, shortly followed by our colleagues making our world‑class cars at Nitra and Solihull.

“Our suppliers are central to our success, and today we are launching a new financing arrangement that will enable us to pay our suppliers early, using the strength of our balance sheet to support their cashflows.

“I would like to thank everyone connected to JLR for their commitment, hard work and endeavour in recent weeks to bring us to this moment. We know there is much more to do but our recovery is firmly under way.”​

The cyber attack on 1 September brought all factories to a halt and incapacitated JLR, forcing it to shut down its internal computer systems in an effort to protect data from being stolen.

This resulted in production shutdowns at all of its global plants, created issues with parts ordering and stifled retailers.

The consequence of the cyber attack is estimated to have cost JLR £1.5 billion drop in revenue.

Figures released by the firm last week show that, in the three-month period including the September shutdown, sales to dealers plummeted by nearly a quarter to 66,165.

The drop represents the loss of 21,138 cars compared with the same period in 2024.

“It has been a challenging quarter for JLR,” outgoing CEO Adrian Mardell said in a statement. However, he said that sales in July and August had been “in line with our expectations” before the cyber attack.

JLR will present its second quarter financial report in November.

Government to underwrite £1.5bn JLR loan

The restart announcement comes after the UK government said it will guarantee a £1.5 billion loan to JLR, to help it support suppliers who have been hit by the production shutdown.

The loan to the Tata-owned car maker will be issued by a commercial bank but will be underwritten by the UK government.

As well as costing JLR an estimated £50 million a week, the cyber attack has badly hit JLR's suppliers. 

It's estimated that around 150,000 people are employed by some 700 British firms that supply JLR, and the UK government had been investigating ways to support them, such as a furlough scheme or loans.

It will instead underwrite a single loan to JLR through the Export Development Guarantee (EDG), with JLR repaying the money over a period of five years. 

Business secretary Peter Kyle said on 27 September that the loan guarantee "will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves added that the loan would help JLR "support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry".

Since the attack, JLR has been able to restore some of its IT systems following the and has started paying some of its suppliers.

JLR hack: what happened?

Autocar first reported issues affecting JLR on 1 September, when dealers couldn't register new cars on 'new plate day', traditionally one of the year's busiest for registrations.