JLR Hack Costs £1.9–2.0bn, Halts Production

A late‑August cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover knocked out its IT systems, forced nearly five weeks of UK factory shutdowns and, according to the Cyber Monitoring Centre, cost the UK economy roughly £1.9–2.0bn and affected more than 5,000 organisations. The stoppage halted about 1,000 cars a day, is estimated to have left roughly 50,000 vehicles unbuilt, and contributed to a sharp September fall in UK car production (passenger car output down about 27% and total vehicle output down about 36% month‑on‑month). Analysts and rating agencies — including S&P — warned JLR will suffer materially, with S&P saying revenues could fall by as much as 18% to about £24bn and independent estimates putting JLR’s direct hit at roughly £540m. The UK government issued a £1.5bn loan guarantee to shore up the supply chain as suppliers faced acute cash‑flow stress and some risked collapse, prompting industry appeals for further support. JLR has resumed limited production with a phased restart begun in October, but the CMC classified the incident as a Category 3 systemic event and warned full recovery remains at risk and full capacity is not expected until early 2026.