After more than a month of total operational blackout, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced a phased restart of its manufacturing operations. The luxury carmaker was forced to shut down its IT systems and halt production across key facilities following a major cyberattack in September.
The six-week disruption has been one of the most severe in JLR’s recent history, impacting the company’s massive UK-based supply chain and costing it up to GBP 5 million a day, business economics professor David Bailey has told Autocar UK.
- Six-week cyber shutdown cost JLR GBP 5 million a day
- Range Rover and key facilities to resume in phases
- Full production recovery will take weeks
Controlled comeback
JLR is restarting production in phases, beginning with engines and batteries, followed by the body shop.
The restart process is a carefully controlled sequence, prioritising component manufacturing first. The Wolverhampton engine facility and the Coleshill battery assembly centre are among the first sites to resume operations this week. Following this initial phase, key areas of the Solihull vehicle production plant, the heart of Range Rover manufacturing, will also start on October 8. This includes the body shop, paint shop and the logistics centre that distributes parts globally.
Range Rover lines to resume production
Range Rover, Defender and Discovery lines to resume after costly cyberattack and UK support.
The main vehicle assembly lines are scheduled to follow quickly. JLR confirmed that the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport production lines in Solihull, along with the Land Rover Defender and Land Rover Discovery lines in Nitra, Slovakia, will resume production later this week.
A crippling cyberattack had forced JLR to halt operations to prevent further damage. The shutdown caused millions in lost revenue, prompting the UK government to offer a GBP 1.5 billion loan guarantee, while JLR introduced a financing scheme to support its 700 UK suppliers, which together employ 1,50,000 people.
A hacker group called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters claimed responsibility, saying that it exploited a flaw in SAP Netweaver software to access customer data.
While the phased restart is a critical step, JLR expects the return to full, normal operating speed to take several weeks as it focuses on clearing the substantial backlog for its high-demand luxury SUVs.
Also see:
JLR India announces massive price drop of up to Rs 30.4 lakh after GST cuts
JLR cyberattack: production shut until at least September 24
