Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the iconic British luxury automaker, has announced it will partially resume manufacturing in the coming days after a crippling cyberattack forced a near month-long shutdown of its UK operations. The phased restart comes as the company, its workers, and a vast network of suppliers finally glimpse hope after weeks of mounting financial and operational pressures.
The cyberattack, which struck on August 31, 2025, brought production at JLR’s three main UK facilities—in Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Halewood—to a screeching halt. According to Sky News, more than 33,000 people are directly employed by JLR in the UK, many of them on assembly lines that have stood idle since September 1. The ripple effects were even broader, with around 120,000 to 200,000 additional workers in the company’s supply chain suddenly facing an uncertain future. For many, JLR is their biggest—sometimes only—client.
“As the controlled, phased restart of our operations continues, we are taking further steps toward our recovery and the return to manufacture of our world-class vehicles,” a JLR spokesperson said in a statement quoted by The Independent. The company began partially restoring its IT systems last week, which allowed it to restart payments to suppliers and clear a growing backlog. This critical step offered some relief to smaller firms teetering on the edge of bankruptcy due to the sudden loss of orders.
The shutdown’s financial toll has been staggering. According to the BBC, industry sources estimate JLR has been losing at least £50 million per week in lost production. The company had initially hoped to resume operations by October 1, but the complexity of the attack and the need for a secure restart forced two extensions of the planned return date. Manufacturing is now expected to resume first at the engine facility in Wolverhampton on October 6, with other plants gradually coming back online in a phased return over the following weeks. Full capacity, however, could still be several weeks away.
“We continue to work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre and law enforcement, to ensure our restart is done in a safe and secure manner,” the JLR spokesperson added, as reported by The Independent. The company also expressed gratitude to employees, suppliers, and partners for their patience and support, acknowledging, “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.”
The UK government has played a central role in JLR’s recovery efforts. Over the weekend, ministers announced a £1.5 billion five-year loan guarantee to shore up the company’s finances and, crucially, support its extensive supply chain. The loan, underwritten by a government credit agency and backed by the Export Development Guarantee from UK Export Finance, will be provided by a commercial bank and is intended to help JLR and its suppliers weather the immediate crisis.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, emphasized the importance of the intervention: “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.”
Peter Kyle, the UK Business Secretary, echoed these sentiments after visiting JLR executives and supplier Webasto Group, stating, “This cyberattack was not only an assault on an iconic British brand, but on our world-leading auto sector and the men and women whose livelihoods depend on it.”
The government’s swift action followed urgent warnings from industry leaders and MPs. The head of the Business and Trade Committee wrote to Chancellor Reeves, cautioning that small firms reliant on JLR “may have at best a week of cashflow left to support themselves” and calling for “urgent” measures to prevent widespread business failures.
JLR’s supply chain is a cornerstone of the UK automotive sector, with some suppliers relying exclusively on the automaker’s orders. The just-in-time delivery model used by JLR, while efficient under normal circumstances, left many of these businesses exposed when the production line ground to a halt. As one supplier told the BBC, the planned restart was “welcome and would provide some relief for businesses that rely on orders from JLR,” but also warned that the financial damage already done meant further assistance was needed. “Vulnerable firms could not afford to take on more debt,” the supplier noted.
The cyberattack on JLR is part of a wider trend of sophisticated digital assaults targeting UK luxury brands and retailers. In the past year alone, companies such as Harrods, Marks and Spencer, and the Co-op have suffered similar breaches. According to AFP, British police in July arrested four individuals suspected of involvement in attacks against these retailers, with hackers demanding ransom payments after infiltrating their IT systems. The financial impact has been severe: Marks and Spencer reported a £300 million hit to annual operating profit after weeks of crippled online services, while the Co-op’s profits and revenue were also significantly dented.
JLR’s own investigation into the cyberattack has confirmed that “some data” was accessed by the hackers, though the company has not disclosed further details. The breach not only disrupted production and sales but also forced the company to seek emergency funding to stabilize its finances and protect its workforce. The timing couldn’t have been worse: earlier in the year, JLR had already reported a sharp reduction in sales after halting exports to the United States in response to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Although a subsequent trade agreement reduced tariffs on UK car exports to the US, the company still planned to cut up to 500 UK management jobs.
Industry minister Chris McDonald described the JLR incident as a “wake-up call” for British businesses, urging them to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses in the face of increasingly aggressive attacks. The government’s coordinated response, involving cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies, underscores the seriousness of the threat and the importance of safeguarding critical sectors of the economy.
With the phased restart now underway, optimism is cautiously returning to JLR’s plants and the broader automotive community. Yet the road to full recovery remains long and uncertain. The company and its partners must now focus on rebuilding trust, restoring operations, and ensuring that lessons learned from this crisis lead to stronger protections in the future. For the thousands of workers and suppliers who depend on JLR, the hope is that the worst is finally behind them—and that the engines of Britain’s automotive industry will soon be roaring once more.
