Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will resume some manufacturing production in the “coming days” as it continues to deal with the fallout from a major cyber attack.
The car manufacturer has been in shutdown mode since the beginning of September, and has already twice extended planned return days, with some estimates suggesting the company faces costs of £50m a week in lost production. Last week, the company said the shutdown would be extended until the start of October.
Over the weekend, the government agreed to provide a £1.5bn loan guarantee to JLR, in an effort to protect companies in its supply chain as well as the major manufacturer itself.
More than 33,000 people are directly employed by JLR in the UK, with a large number of those across car assembly lines. They were told to stay at home as the extent of the cyber attack was discovered and the production line shut down, but some will soon be returning to work.
“As the controlled, phased restart of our operations continues, we are taking further steps towards our recovery and the return to manufacture of our world‑class vehicles,” JLR said in a statement. “Today we are informing colleagues, retailers and suppliers that some sections of our manufacturing operations will resume in the coming days.
“We continue to work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK government’s NCSC and law enforcement, to ensure our restart is done in a safe and secure manner.
“We would like to thank everyone connected with JLR for their continued patience, understanding and support. We know there is much more to do, but the foundational work of our recovery is firmly underway, and we will continue to provide updates as we progress.”
Ministers met with companies in the JLR supply chain last week, with some firms facing the prospect of closure and their employees losing their jobs if a solution was not found. It is believed that JLR is the main or only client of some of these businesses, as the car manufacturer operates a just-in-time business model on its assembly line, relying on suppliers delivering parts as needed on a consistent – and, until the start of September at least, an ongoing – basis.
Industry minister Chris McDonald called for British businesses to heed the “wake-up call” of the disruption faced by JLR, following a summer that saw Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, among others, hit by hacks. Harrods was also hit with a data breach last week and is refusing to engage with the hackers.
On announcing the loan guarantee, chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “Jaguar Land Rover is an iconic British company which employs tens of thousands of people – a jewel in the crown of our economy.
“Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to £1.5bn in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry.”
