Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury car manufacturer owned by the Tata Group, has announced that it will partially resume its manufacturing operations in the coming days. The initial stage of phased recovery comes following a devastating cyberattack, which occurred on 31 August and forced the automaker to suspend manufacturing operations. It also disrupted the supply chain, prompting the UK government to pledge a 2 billion dollar loan guarantee to support the OEM.
JLR has announced that certain parts of manufacturing operations will start up again in the next few days, following the controlled halt that began on September 1. The cyber incident impacted all three of its UK facilities located in Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Halewood, forcing the company to shut down its IT systems to limit the damage. Production at the Wolverhampton engine plant is expected to begin again on October 6.
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The company initially aimed to resume operations by mid-September but extended the shutdown several times as investigations progressed. Industry insiders indicate that although limited production might commence, it could take weeks to achieve full operational capacity.
A spokesperson for JLR mentioned that the company is working tirelessly alongside cybersecurity experts, the UK Government's NCSC, and law enforcement to ensure our restart is carried out safely and securely. The phased approach to restarting seeks to gradually restore IT systems while upholding security protocols.
The production suspension has greatly affected JLR's sales performance and financial projections. Moody's credit rating agency has revised Tata Motors' outlook to negative, predicting that the cyber incident will decrease the parent company's consolidated EBITDA to approximately 850 million dollars for the fiscal year 2025-26, down from earlier estimates of 3 billion dollars.