Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been granted a £1.5 billion (~$A3bn) loan from the British government after it was forced to stop making cars in the wake of a cyber attack almost a month ago.
The attack occurred on August 31 but the production pause, which was originally expected to end on September 24, has now been extended, prolonging the impact on supplies of vehicles and on the British automaker’s supply chain itself.
Four JLR factories across the UK remain closed as a result; Halewood, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Castle Bromwich.
The privately funded £1.5bn loan will be guaranteed by the UK Export Finance credit agency and is due to be paid back over five years.
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According to the UK government’s business secretary, Peter Kyle, the funds “will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs.”
“This cyber attack was not only an assault on an iconic British brand, but on our world-leading automotive sector and the men and women whose livelihoods depend on it,” Mr Kyle said in a statement.
“Following our decisive action, this loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK.”
JLR directly employs approximately 34,000 people in the UK, but around 120,000 jobs are tied to its manufacturing supply chain across around 700 suppliers.
According to the BBC, the shutdown is costing JLR at least £50m ($A102.4m) a week.
While the Jaguar brand wasn’t making cars before the ‘cyber incident’ – with a major reinvention of the historic British luxury brand set to see the first of its new models introduced in 2026 – the Land Rover brand, which includes Range Rover, had been operating as usual.
The cyber attack on JLR, which is owned by Indian industrial giant Tata, has also seen the company idling its factories in India, Brazil, and Slovakia.
Australian supplies of Land Rover and Range Rover vehicles have not yet been impacted.
JLR Australia previously said it expected its Jaguar to have enough cars in stock to sell until the new generation of models arrive sometime in 2026.
In a statement to CarExpert today, it said: “As part of the controlled, phased restart of our operations, today we have informed colleagues, suppliers and retail partners that sections of our digital estate are now up and running. The foundational work of our recovery programme is firmly underway.
“We have significantly increased IT processing capacity for invoicing. We are now working to clear the backlog of payments to our suppliers as quickly as we can.
“Our Global Parts Logistics Centre, which supplies the parts distribution centres for our retailer partners in the UK and around the world, is now returning to full operations. This will enable our retail partners to continue to service our clients’ vehicles and keep our customers mobile.
“The financial system we use to process the wholesales of vehicles has been brought back online and we are able to sell and register vehicles for our clients faster, delivering important cash flow.
“These are important initial steps as our dedicated teams work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK Government’s NCSC and law enforcement to ensure we restart in a safe and secure manner.
“Our focus remains on supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and our retailers. We fully recognise this is a difficult time for all connected with JLR and we thank everyone for their continued support and patience.” MORE: Explore the Jaguar showroom MORE: Explore the Land Rover showroom
