Jaguar Land Rover signals production restart delayed to Sept. 24 as cyber attack ripples through supply chain

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has told suppliers that factory production will not resume until at least Sept. 24 as the carmaker continues a forensic investigation into a major cyber attack that forced it to shut down IT networks and halted manufacturing, company and industry sources said.

The attack, first reported to have come to light on Sept. 1, has paralysed production across JLR’s global operations and prompted a criminal investigation. Industry sources warned the disruption could stretch into November, a projection JLR described as "speculation" while it assesses the controlled stages required to restart operations.

JLR said in a statement that it had delayed a planned restart "as our forensic investigation of the cyber incident continues and as we consider the different stages of the controlled restart of our global operations, which will take time." The company added: "We are very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is causing and we will continue to update as the investigation progresses." JLR has admitted that some data may have been viewed or stolen by third parties as a result of the incident.

The stoppage has hit a wide manufacturing footprint. JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, operates vehicle plants in Solihull and Halewood and an engine facility in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, and also has larger factories in Slovakia and China and a smaller facility in India. The carmaker normally builds more than 1,000 vehicles a day; analysts estimate the shutdown is costing the company at least £50 million a week in lost production.

Three and a half weeks of output would be lost by the revised Sept. 24 restart date, and industry insiders said returning to normal production rates would take additional weeks even after lines resume. Many suppliers to JLR are small and medium-sized businesses that said they lack the financial resilience to survive an extended halt. Several told the BBC they faced an immediate risk of insolvency without prompt support.

Jason Richards, West Midlands regional officer at Unite the union, said suppliers were already discussing redundancies. "People have to pay rent, they have to pay mortgages and if they're not getting any pay, what are they supposed to do?" he said, warning that the wider engineering base could suffer lasting damage if the supply chain breaks down. Unite called for a furlough-style scheme using government funds to help pay salaries for workers unable to work because of the stoppage.

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the chancellor what plans are in place to support vulnerable businesses in the JLR supply chain. JLR is reported to be holding talks with some suppliers about potential support measures.

Not all suppliers blamed JLR for the crisis. David Roberts, chair of Evtec Group, cautioned against placing responsibility on the carmaker. "We should not forget who is to blame here," he said. "All of this is the fault of criminals. JLR is the victim here. We should remember who started this - and it wasn't JLR."

A group calling itself Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters has claimed responsibility for the attack. Security researchers and reporting have linked the group to high-profile intrusions earlier this year into retailers including Marks & Spencer and the Co-op.

Law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident as a criminal matter while JLR evaluates the extent of data exposure and the steps required to restore systems safely. Company officials had initially suggested the situation might be resolved quickly, but the complexity of validating systems and ensuring secure, staged restarts has extended the timeline.

The potential for prolonged disruption has raised concerns across the automotive sector. Analysts and union officials warned that even a short-term outage at a major carmaker can cascade through suppliers that operate with just-in-time inventories and limited cash reserves, increasing the risk of plant closures and job losses beyond JLR itself.

JLR said it would continue to provide updates as the investigation progresses. Meanwhile, industry representatives, unions and government committees are pressing for clarity on contingency support to protect suppliers and the broader manufacturing workforce while the forensic work and criminal inquiry proceed.