JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, was hit by a cyber-attack on August 31, which shut down its IT networks.
This forced it to freeze production in a shutdown, and the stoppage is thought to be costing JLR itself at least £50m per week.
JLR has confirmed that its factories, including its UK facilities in Solihull, Halewood and Wolverhampton, won’t resume operations until at least October 1.
Britain’s biggest car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, was reportedly uninsured for the cyber attack, which has shut down its production lines.
The company is thought to be losing at least £50 million a week. There are also mounting concerns about the impact on its supply chain, with… pic.twitter.com/vhNja0T7Fs
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 25, 2025
Those three factories would normally expect to build more than 1,000 cars a day.
Fears are growing that some suppliers, in particular the smaller firms that solely rely on JLR’s business, could go bust without support.
JLR has roughly 700 direct suppliers, who rely on its consistent production schedules.
How could the government offer support to JLR and its suppliers?
One idea being explored is the government buying the component parts that the suppliers build and then selling them back to JLR when it resumes production of its vehicles.
This would be to keep them in business until JLR’s production lines are up and running again.
However, the stockpiling of car parts does present considerable logistical challenges.
Another option being considered is providing government-backed loans to suppliers, though this is understood to be unpopular with the suppliers themselves.
Unions had called for a Covid-style furlough scheme, but ministers aren’t too keen on this.
When asked about the possibility of a furlough scheme, industry minister Chris McDonald said: “Now that we’ve got teams of people working at JLR, I feel like we are getting to the point where we are getting to grips with the problem there.
“It’s really important that anything that happens is led by the businesses themselves, rather than saying we should pick a scheme off the shelf and apply that to the entire supply chain, which might help some businesses and not help other businesses.”
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The Business and Trade Select Committee is due to meet today (Thursday, September 25) to hear testimonies from businesses in JLR’s supply chain because of deep concern for some of these businesses to remain afloat.
This evidence will then be shared with the government afterwards.
Senior government figures are concerned about a pattern of cyber attacks on UK institutions and businesses in recent months, such as the British Library, Marks & Spencer, and the Co-op.
