The cyberattack Jaguar Land Rover experienced in September devastated the company’s bottom line.
The British luxury automaker, which India’s Tata Motors owns, had to shut down production and computer systems for the entire month.
Founded in 2008, when Tata Motors purchased it from Ford for $2.23 billion
Also owns the rights to Daimler, Lanchester, and Rover
2024 revenue £28.99 billion ($38.90 billion)
2024 net income £2.57 billion ($3.45 billion)
40,000 employees worldwide, including 33,000 in the UK; largest UK auto employer
The attack initially led the company to close its three factories in Britain, which produce about 1,000 cars a day. It has told many of its 33,000 staff to stay home during the process.
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the company said it would close all of its global factories — including ones in China, Slovakia, India, and Brazil — until at least October 1. However, that deadline had been delayed twice.
On Oct. 7, the company detailed some of the business it lost in the second quarter.
On Oct. 7, Jaguar Land Rover told investors that wholesale volumes fell 24% in the second quarter to 66,165 vehicles, while retail sales fell 17% to 85,495.
JLR CEO Adrian Mardell called the quarter, which runs from July to September, “challenging,” adding, “In the first two months, our performance was robust and in line with our expectations, against the backdrop of the planned wind-down of legacy Jaguar models and the impact of incremental U.S. tariffs.”
Related: Jaguar cyberattack recovery complicated by a major oversight
Retail volumes fell in every market, but the most significant drop was experienced in the UK, the epicenter of the cyberattack.
Speaking of which, JLR says its engines and battery units will restart work on Oct. 8, as will parts of its vehicle production plant, including its body shop and paint shop staffers.
All told, about 33,000 of its workers will return to work Oct. 8 after weeks.
“From the start of September, we have been responding to a cyber incident, which shut down our production. Since then, we have worked with retailers to prioritise the delivery of our world-class vehicles to our clients,” said Mardell.
JLR isn’t scheduled to report its full Q2 results until next month, so we won’t know exactly how much the incident cost, but damages could be in the billions.
Last month, reports emerged that Jaguar Land Rover failed to finalize a cyberattack insurance deal brokered by insurance provider Lockton before the attack.
