JLR cyber attack production restart begins this week as Jaguar Land Rover confirms that its factories in the West Midlands and Merseyside will resume operations on Wednesday. The move comes more than a month after the company suffered a major cyber-attack that disrupted its production network, forcing a complete shutdown across multiple sites.
According to JLR, the phased restart will initially take place at its Wolverhampton engine plant and its battery assembly centre in Hams Hall. Employees working in metal bodywork preparation at Castle Bromwich, Halewood, and Solihull are also set to return, along with staff from Solihull’s body and paint shops. The company said vehicle manufacturing at its Nitra plant in Slovakia will follow closely, while production lines for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport in Solihull are expected to restart later in the week.
Operations at JLR’s Halewood facility on Merseyside, however, remain uncertain. Experts warn that it may still take several weeks for full-scale production to resume across all plants, as the company continues to recover from the cyber-attack’s aftermath.
To support its network of suppliers hit hard by the disruption, JLR has launched an accelerated payment scheme for its most critical partners. The initiative allows Tier 1 suppliers—companies that work directly with JLR—to receive payments much sooner than usual, in some cases up to 120 days earlier. This funding model, backed by a commercial bank, is designed to stabilize cash flow in the supply chain and prevent further layoffs.
JLR said the scheme will later be expanded to include additional suppliers once operations stabilize. Several smaller contractors have struggled financially since production halted in early September, with some forced to lay off staff.
David Roberts, CEO of Evtec Group, one of JLR’s major contractors, criticized the UK government for its lack of direct support to the manufacturing sector during the crisis. “We asked the government directly, at ministerial level, to directly support the sector. They listened, but they did nothing,” Roberts told the BBC.
Another supplier, Genex UK, which provides pressed metal parts to JLR, confirmed it had to lay off 18 employees due to cash flow issues.
While the phased restart marks a critical milestone for JLR’s recovery, analysts say the company still faces a long road to restoring normal operations and rebuilding supply chain stability. The cyber-attack has exposed vulnerabilities across the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector, sparking renewed debate about digital security and resilience in industrial infrastructure.
The automaker emphasized that it remains committed to supporting suppliers and ensuring long-term operational recovery as it gradually resumes full production over the coming weeks.
Source: BBC
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