JLR resumes limited production after six-week shutdown caused by August 31 cyberattack.
UK guarantees £1.5 billion loan to support supply chain and manufacturing restart.
Hackers exploited SAP Netweaver flaw; cybersecurity concerns raised over legacy IT systems.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has restarted limited manufacturing operations following a major cyberattack on August 31 that forced the company to halt production across its global network. The UK government is backing a £1.5 billion ($2.8 billion CAD) emergency loan to help stabilize the automaker’s operations and prevent supply chain disruption.
The company confirmed that engine and battery production will resume on October 8, along with activity in its vehicle body and paint shops. Additional production lines, including those for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport at its Solihull plant, are expected to restart later in the week. The partial reopening brings back some of the company’s 33,000 employees after an extended shutdown.
The cyberattack halted production at JLR’s plants in the UK, Slovakia, Brazil, India, and China. Industry analyst Charles Tennant estimated that the disruption led to over 30,000 lost vehicles and daily profit losses of approximately £5 million. He noted that due to the complexity of JLR’s manufacturing, which involves assembling vehicles with over 100,000 individual components, full recovery could take several more weeks.
A group calling itself “Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters” claimed responsibility for the breach in messages posted to Telegram in early September. The hackers shared internal system images and documentation, alleging that they accessed JLR’s systems by exploiting a vulnerability. The claims have not been independently verified.
The company’s IT systems, much of which were inherited from previous owner Ford (owned by Tata since 2008), have been described as complex and fragmented. A person familiar with JLR’s infrastructure said certain factory systems were isolated from internet access, but gaps in the network may have allowed the breach.
To ease financial pressure on its supplier base during the phased restart, JLR announced it will pay suppliers upfront rather than on a 60-day post-invoice basis.
Source: Automotive News
